


Neo Date A Live

by Aysl_Faraday



Category: Date A Live
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-09-29 05:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17197739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aysl_Faraday/pseuds/Aysl_Faraday
Summary: Repost from Fanfiction.net5 years ago, a fire burned through Tenguu city. From the ashes, the next generation of spirits was born. Full OC Story. I don't own Date A Live all right go to Kōshi Tachibana.





	1. A New Horizon

Amidst the raging inferno around them, a young boy pulls a girl the same age as him by the arm through the smoke in search of safety. The two of them were too young to know where they were going or what to do, but they knew that fire was something to be feared and they had to get away from it. The screaming and shouting of random adults around them terrified the children to no end, but the boy knew they had to press on or they wouldn’t make it out of the smoke. The girl suddenly slips out of the boy’s grasp and falls on her knees, clutching her neck with one hand and coughing heavily from the smoke. The boy falls over as well and skins his knee on some broken glass on the ground, making him wince in pain. He hears the girl start crying behind him and he forces himself to turn around to her on the hot asphalt. He slowly crawls toward her, despite the intense pain from the flames and the glass and reaches out to her, only for a burning telephone pole finally fall over and crush the girl under its weight.

The boy watches as the girl’s body disappears in the flames and he lets out a painful scream of anguish, hoping someone would hear him and save him from the nightmare in front of him. His screams ultimately go unheard and he slumps to the ground, his breath thinning out from the smoke. The boy ends up losing consciousness and silently accepts his fate in the flames. The fire slowly creeps closer to the fallen boy’s body, when someone steps in front of the flames, making them go out and be pushed back from the person’s mere presence.

The specter looks down and lets out a small tear, feeling empathy for the young boy’s suffering. The specter reaches down and picks up the boy in its arms, cradling it gently. It breaths out a cloud of white gas and takes a small gem out of its body, watching the cloud swirl together and be sucked into the dark stone. When the last of the gas enters the gem, it lights up with a pulsing blue light, sparks crackling within the glass object. The figure places the gem on the boy’s chest where his heart is and let’s go as the stone slowly sink in and merge with the boy’s body.

The figure suddenly hears the sound of approaching people and pushes away a small patch of flames with its hand before setting the boy down in the open area. The figure gives the child a small kiss on the forehead, his breathing evens out from the touch, and walks toward the fallen telephone pole before vanishing from sight as the beam of a searchlight lands on the sleeping boy’s body.

* * *

 

Five years ago, Tenguu city suddenly broke out in flames that consumed and ravaged the lives of all those who lived within the city. No one knows what really causes the fire to start in the first place, but everyone knew that it lasted for three days before the fire brigade was able to put it out. When the last of the embers finally burned out, the city was in left in splinters and ashes, and the event went down in history as "The Great Tenguu fire.” However, there was a secret being kept within the flames. Amongst the many victims of the fire, a handful of kids were saved from the clutches of death by an unknown force. Whoever they were before the fire started was burned away when the flames died down. These ten kids that survived the fire became the next generation of spirits to walk the earth and this is the story of how they, through countless trials and hardships, came together to save the known world.

* * *

 

The date was June 10, 2051. Five years had passed since the events of the Tenguu fire, but the city was able to rebuild itself from the ashes and start anew.  Today was the start of a new school year for the Osaku household, but little did they know that after today, their lives would be forever changed.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" A young girl with lilac hair that went down to her shoulders and bright green eyes, wearing light green pajamas jumps up and down on her older brother’s bed to wake him up. Unfortunately, the boy wasn’t having as much fun as the girl thought he was with her little game. “Myra,” the boy calls from under his covers, “I can’t get up of you’re on top of me. Can you get off?” The girl stops jumping and childishly pouts before stepping off the bed. “OK big bro. I’ll stop jumping.” The boy under the covers lets out a sigh of relief as she steps of his bed.  _ ‘Finally, she stopped jumping on me! Ugh, today can't get any worse than this.' _ He apparently jinxes himself as a wave of ice cold water is thrown by Myra onto him, the water soaking him through his clothes. "WAHHHHHH!" The now wet older brother throws the covers off him in a rush, revealing his short black hair and cobalt blue eyes, and shivering from the water. The boy, Rute Osaku, wraps his arms around himself and tries to warm himself up."M-Myra, w-hat w-was that f-f-for!?" He asks through chattering teeth.

The girl stands next to the bed with her arms crossed and legs spread apart. "You weren’t getting out of bed, Rute! You always get to sleep in and we always end up late! But this year’s going to be different!" She dramatically points to the sky with a triumphant grin. “This year we  **will** make it to school on time! So, get up already!” The boy, Rute Osaku, shakes the water out of his head and a mischievous glint appears in his eyes as he lowers his head, the shadow of his hair covering his eyes. "Myra l-listen. You need to run away, now.” He tells her in a strained voice, his hand clutching his heart in imaginary pain.

His younger sister breaks her facade and tentatively reaches out to her bring brother. "Hey, Rute? You’re OK, right?" Rute rocks himself from side to side as he pretends to dry heave from an illness. "I-I don't know but, it hurts so much!” He makes himself fall to the side and looks up at Myra with pleading eyes. “I-I can't c-contain myself for m-much longer. Please, Myra, you have to r-run!" The said girl is now shaking in fear with faint tears in her eyes. "N-No I can't leave you. Big bro please!"

"I get the first shower then! Thanks, Myra!" He suddenly jumps off his bed and runs out the door, leaving my sister behind. It wasn’t until the door shut behind him that his sister started screaming in anger. "Hey! No fair big bro! That's not fair!"

A few minutes later, Rute comes down the stairs wearing his school uniform and turns on the TV for Myra, knowing she always watches the news before they leave. His and Myra’s parents are usually called abroad to another country for work. They don’t say much about what they really do, but they told Rute that they worked in a subdivision of another larger group. Because of this, Rute and Myra end being left at the house by themselves. It was hard at first but the two of them were able to make things work out.

Rute finds an apron and goes to the stove to make breakfast. He cracks and heats eggs in a pan as Myra comes down and plops herself down on the couch facing the TV. She looks over her shoulder and crosses her arms over her chest, makes a  _ ‘Humph!’  _ noise and turns away. "That's wasn’t fair big bro! Tricking me like that!" Rute chuckles at his sister and reaches into his pockets. "Hey, it was just a joke. Besides you started it." Rute says as he pulls out a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Here, I’ll make it up to you, my treat." Myra turns her head to the side and her eyes widen when she sees the paper in his hands. Rute was holding a coupon for Danny's, her favorite restaurant. Myra’s mouth started to water as she stared at the coupon with anticipation.

Myra’s sadness suddenly vanishes like she forgot what had happened and a big grin appears on her face. "Big bro you’re the best!" She says with a smile and grabs the remote to find the news channel. She watches silently as Rute finishes their food and sets the table. Something on the TV makes her gasp loudly and she grabs the remote to turn up the volume for Rute to hear. “Rute look at this!” She says as the newscaster appears on the screen.

**[Earlier today, a category C space quake was recorded in the eastern area of Tenguu city. There are no recorded casualties but the damage to the surrounding is quite extensive. Repairs are being done as we speak and are expected to finish at...]** Rute silently watches the news with his sister until the screen changes to show the crater left by the spacequake and Rute can make out their house in the background just outside the crater.

Rute’s eyes widen at the closeness of their house to the destruction. "How did we not hear the alarms go off? We could have died because of that thing." The phenomenon of spacequakes started happening about 30 years ago when the first recorded one destroyed half of the Eurasian continent. They used to happen more frequently after that but nowadays they happen about once a week. Humans still haven’t made any counters to the destruction they can bring, but citywide alarms and underground shelters are our only defense for them now.

Rute looks down at Myra, who looks visibly shaken by the news. “Big bro, are we really safe here?" She asks Rute, the fear audible in her voice. She turns around and looks up at him with tears at the corner ls of her eyes. “I’m not going to lose you, am I? You’re always going to be there for me and we’ll always be together. Right, Big Bro?”

Rute understands her fear and sets down their breakfast. He walks over to her and pats her softly on the head like he used to when she was little. "Don’t worry Myra. We are safe here and I promise I won't let the spacequakes hurt you or me." He lets her go and wipes away her tears. “Come on, let’s go to school.” Myra smiles with relief and looks at her brother endearingly. “OK, big brother.”

* * *

 

At the same time, in an alternate dimension, a young teenage girl with long dark hair floats in the endless void of nothingness. Her eyes are closed in a deep vegetative slumber and she remains unaffected by any outside force. Suddenly, an explosion occurs not far from where the girl is and the shockwave causes the void to ripple like water. The invisible waves reach the girl and her eyes close tighter shut from the discomfort. She suddenly feels a jolt of pain as her mind is suddenly flooded with painful memories of raging fire.

She suddenly sees herself in her mind, standing amidst the roaring flames from her past. She immediately falls to her knees, her hands covering her ears as she remembers the way she felt in that situation. The relentless screaming, the overwhelming dread, the smoke that filled her lungs, the mysterious voices of an unknown persona.

The girl suddenly snaps out of her dream and opens her eyes to the darkness surrounding her. She turns frantically around in the void, looking for anything that could bring her comfort. The sound of shattering glass was heard from behind her and she turned around to see the dark dimension break apart into shards, letting a small light pierce through the emptiness. She blocks the light with one hand and looks into the open space of the light and sees a humanoid figure standing outside void. The figure is completely black but it turns to look at her with shining blue eyes and it reaches out to her with one hand, a loud voice piercing the void and reaching her ears.

**"Even if the rest of the world leaves you, I'll still be here for you! And I promise I will never leave your side!"**

The girl feels something within her resonate with the figure's voice and she reaches out with one hand and is brought closer to the figure by an invisible force. Her hand slowly reaches the figures and when she finally grasps it, the rest of the world around her shatters and the figure disintegrates into particles the spread out and merge with her body. The image of a glowing white sphere against a black background suddenly enters her mind and knowledge floods her mind to match her apparent age. The force overloads her mind and she closes her eyes in exhaustion, a vacuum opening below her and sucking her out of the alternate realm with a loud explosion, thrusts her into another world.


	2. The Arrival

The later that day the Osaku sibling head out for school. Myra walks in front of with a skip in her step as she chants the name of her favorite restaurant with each step. “Danny’s! Danny’s! Danny’s!” Rute chuckles as he knows how much these little things mean to her. They end up passing Danny’s at the crossroads to their school and Rute hands the coupon to Myra. "Ok, I’m giving this to you for later. Don’t lose it OK?" Myra grabs the coupon out of his hands. "You got it, bro! So, we're going here after school, right?” She spins in circles while holding it too in her outstretched hands, too excited to really pay attention,” You are going here with me, right? You promised me, didn’t you?" Myra asks with a pleading look in her eyes.

Rute looks down at his little sister with a slight smile on his face. “Don’t worry Myra. You’re right, l promised you we’d go, didn’t I?” Myra looks at her brother with wondrous eyes and jumps onto her brother with a hug. “You’re the best big ever!” Rute hugs her back and she jumps off and runs the other way. "See you later, Big Bro! Remember, you promised!" She yells as she runs off for school. Rute waves her goodbye turning to go to his school when he feels something on his shoulder hold him back. "I knew I recognized that head of hair.” A voice says behind him and Rute looks over his shoulder to see a boy with a black crew cut and eyes. Rute’s smile widens as he recognizes friend his good friend Arata Sanato, a guy he used to hang out with back in middle school. “So Rute, you think you’re ready for high school?" He asks nonchalantly. Rute turns around and grips his friends’ hand in a handshake. "You bet Arata. Here's hoping we get a good teacher this year."

The two of them walk together, sharing stories about each other's summer break until they reach the gates of their new school, Raizen high school. Rute smiles as they enter the building and sees a few familiar faces at the main entrance. “Hey, guys, how you doing?” Rute greets a trio of girls who he recognizes and the gossip group of his old school. They all turn at the sound of his voice, and their faces lighting up when they see him. "Hey Rute, Arata, good to see you again!" The tallest girl with light brown long hair and blue eyes says when she sees him. A black hair in a ponytail and brown eyes who was a little shorter than the first puts on a feral smirk starts shaking for some reason. "Alright, it’s time for the new school year! Ahhh I’m so excited! We’re going to have so much fun!" The last and shortest girl of the group who had blonde hair and dark green eyes raises her hands in a calming gesture to her rambling friend. "Come on Ray you’re going to get in trouble again. Seriously calm down! Mia help me out here!" The young girl starts panicking as her friend starts jumping up and down like a kid during her rants.

Rute and Arata shake their heads in amusement and chuckle at the sight they saw far too often. Rute walks up and waits for the right moment to give the rambling girl a playful chop to the head which stops her immediately. “Ray come on, seriously listen to Rin. It's only the first day and it's probably for the best that you don’t break anything yet,” He says snarkily. Said girl childishly pouts and turns away from Rute with her arms crossed. The leader of the group leans over and whispers in Rute’s ear. “Thanks for that, you know how she is. You’re the only one that can actually stop her rants from getting out of hand.” Rute waves her off with his hand and a laidback smile. “Don’t worry about it, Mia. I actually missed hanging with you guys over the summer. It was almost too quiet.” Mia blushes a bit and playfully slaps his arm. “W-whatever! Let’s just go, class is starting soon.” She grabs the other girls by the back of their collars and drags them into the school, leaving Rute and Arata chuckling at the entrance.

Arata looks over at Rute and shakes his head when he sees his stupid looking grin. “This guy… He’s going to have a lot of girl problems in the future.” Arata says quietly to himself. Rute looks back at his friend with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, Arata? You doing OK, what's going on?” The said boy shakes his head and starts walking with Rute. “Nothing man. Let's go find out what our classes are.” As the two walk into the school, teenage girl holding her back in front of her as she watching the boys, particularly Rute, walk inside the school building.  _ ‘So that’s him? The boy that saved me all those years ago?’ _ She thinks as a warm smile slowly goes on to her face. “Finally, I can say thank you,” she whispers to herself. “For all that he did for me that day.”

Rute sits down with his head down in his arms in his new classroom chair, while Arata leans on another desk. The two looks around the room as people flood in for the first day. “This year got a lot of new people transferring in don't you think?” Arata asks Rute. The boy slightly lifts his head and looks around with slight disinterest. “Yeah, I think so. Maybe the lots of people had the same idea we did and enrolled here.” Arata looks down at Rute with a raised eyebrow. “Hey man, you OK? What's going on with you?” Rute looks up at Arata with half-lidded eyes. “I don’t know, I just feel like today's going to be a bit slow.” He looks out the window and watches cars drive across the highway. “Its only day one of class and but I don’t think the year is going to be any different from the last.”

Arata is about to say something when a feminine voice speaks from behind Rute. “Ummm, Mr. Osaku?” Rute’s head perks up and he turns around him to see a girl with short, slightly spiky indigo hair and dark blue eyes looking down at him. She fidgets with the hem of her skirt as she talks to him. “Um… ah, H-Hi! Long-time no see huh! It's been a while since I last saw you...Wait I already said that." She starts fumbling over her words with a dark blush on her face until she takes a deep breath and bows down in front of Rute. “W-What I’m trying to say is...Thank you for saving me that day!” Rute flinched back from her outburst and everyone in the classroom stopped their conversations to watch the scene take place. Rute quickly recovers from his shock and looks at the girl with a raised eyebrow. “Uhh, sorry but what are you talking about? I don’t remember saving anyone before?" The girl gets back up from her bow and looks Rute with wide eyes. "You, you don't remember me?" She asks sadly. Rute feels his heartache from the sadness in her voice and tries to let her down easy. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen you. Did we meet each other before?” The girl looks down dejectedly and shakes her head. “No never mind, I’m sorry. It was so long ago, I thought you might have remembered.”

She takes the seat next to his and book pulls a book out of her bag to read. The moment she sits down, the silence breaks and everyone goes back to talking with their friends and Arata leans down and whispers to Rute. “Hey, do you really not know her? I mean, I think she’s a new student but she knew your name before asking you what it was.” Rute tilts his head looks at the girl questioningly, trying to recall anything about saving someone. “No, I really don’t. I’ve never saved anyone before. But you’re right, how did she know my name.” The class room door opens again and everyone rushes to their seats as their homeroom teacher walks in. “Good morning class, I’m Ms. Haruna. As most of you came from different schools, let’s do a roll call to get familiar with everyone.” Rute keeps an eye on the girl next to him until she raises her hand to learns her name. “Just who are you, Yuki Renatan? And when and how did I save you?” Rute whispers to himself.

* * *

 

When the lunch bell rings, everyone starts walking out of the classroom as Rute yawns and stretches his arms behind his head. “Finally, I can think again! That teacher is so boring.” He announces to himself. Arata walks up to Rute from behind him and pats his shoulder. “Hey, man want to see what the cafeteria is like?” Before Rute can answer, a loud and familiar alarm goes off. Everyone in the classroom gets up and looks wildly as an announcer blares over the intercom.  **[Warning, there have been precursory signs of and spacequake. Please move to the nearest shelter...]** The announcement keeps replaying on repeat, and Rute’s classmates start rushing out of the room, slightly panicking. Rute gets up from his desk and he and Arata rush out of the classroom. 'Already?! Wasn't there one this morning?!' Rute thinks as he walks through a crowd of students. His phone suddenly vibrates and Rute fishes it out of his phone and turns it on. A single notification for a tracking app appears on the lock screen with Myra’s name in the description. ‘I know this thing is helpful, but how is it getting signal from underground?’ Rute thinks as he unlocks his phone to check the app itself. He opens the tracker app and his eyes widen when the map shows her location in front of Danny’s diner.

Rute hears his sister’s words,  _ 'Remember, you promised!' _ ring through his ears and stars pushing his way through the crowd. “Come on, come on, come on!” He slowly makes his way to the edge of the crowd and runs outside, ignoring the muffled cries of Arata behind him. Yuki silently stares at the boy as he leaves the school grounds. Her hand clutches into a fist as she thinks back to how when he saved her in the past. The agonizing screams, the raging fire, the constant pain. A pair of ghostly hands holding her up. Her hand clenches into a fist as she watches him leave until she slips back into a secret entryway, unseen to everyone else. _ ‘Rute Osaku, how do you not remember me?’ _

The empty streets of Tenguu city silently scream danger as Rute makes his way to Danny’s. “Why Myra? Did that promise mean so much to that you would risk your life just to keep it?” He turns another corner and runs down the street back to Danny’s only to find it empty. He looks around him for any signs of life, desperation taking over him. “Myra! Myra, where are you?!” He opens his phone, which still tells him that Myra is at the diner. ‘Where in the-’ His though at interrupted when he kicks something on the floor and he looks down and finds Myra's phone face down in the sidewalk. He picks it up and opens the phone to find the tracker app sending its location to his phone. ‘She must have dropped this during the hug,’ He thinks as the spacequake alarm goes off again. The sound of thunder drums from the side of him and he turns to see a black sphere of energy expand tear apart the land in front of him. He puts his hands up in front of him to out of reflex and a pale blue shield briefly appears before him until the energy breaks through and sends him flying into a wall, hitting the back of his head and losing consciousness knocking him out.

* * *

 

The ball of energy expands in a wide radius before losing force and fading away. When the energy dispels entirely a girl with long black hair that went down to her back and pale silver eyes suddenly appears in the center of a crater. She blinks twice and looks around the area like a frantic lost child. _'Where-where am I? What is this place? What happened here?'_ She thinks as she looks around for anything that could help her. She senses movement behind her and looks to see a boy lying face first on the ground slowly trying to get up

She runs over to help and kneels down next to him to grab onto his arm. "H-hey, are you OK. Come on, get up!" She watches his eyes open looks and he shakes his head from side to side, “What? Where?” The boy turns to face her and her breath hitches when she sees his eyes. “They-They’re the same as before.” She loosens her grip and let’s go of his arm, letting him crawl backward away from her. The two stare at each other without saying a word, but little do they know that the same question is on their minds.  **‘Who-Who are you?’**


	3. The New Moon

Rute tried his best to slow down his breathing as the silver-eyed girl looks at him. She puts a hand to her chest and sighs with relief. “Thank goodness you woke up. I was getting worried that you wouldn’t” The girl says as Rute regains his bearings. Rute’s to her body and he notices what she’s wearing. Her clothes consisted of a long black dress with flowing silver diagonal lines that went down to her knees, black gloves that go up to her elbows and silver high heels. Some parts of her clothes have a silver closed flower bud image like her gloves, the tips of her shoes and as a hairpin on the left side of her head. Her clothes shimmered like water as the wind blew against them.

Rute feels a sense of dread run through him as the girl edged closer to him. He slowly crawls back away from the mysterious girl, making her pull back her arm and back away. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just hoping you could help me.” Rute slowly pushes himself up, his eyes not leaving the girl as he gets back on his feet. “I’m fine, don’t worry,” he tells the girl hoping not to aggravate her.  _ ‘This girl is somehow connected to that spacequake just now. But why, and how was she able to create it in the first place?’ _ She stands up with and looks around the area around her before looking back at him. "Who are you? Where am I?" She asks innocently. Rute gives the girl a strange look but decides to play along. "This is Tenguu city. I'm just looking for my sister. Have you seen her anywhere?" She tilts her head to the side and looks. “Sister? Tenguu city? What are these things?” Rute suddenly snaps out of his desperation induced panic and looks at the girl with a raised eyebrow. “Wait how do not know what a sister is?” Rute asks the girl. “Don’t you have a family or friends to tell you about that?” Her expression darkens slightly and she looks down sadly. “Friends? Family? I… I don’t know.” She turns around and looks at the city around her, “There is so much more I have yet to see.” Rute feels his heart clench when he hears the girl’s words.  _ ‘How do you not know about family? _ ’ He mentally asks himself. He looks at the girl and scratches the back of his head. “Hey if you want, I can-“ His sentence is interrupted when a missile suddenly flies over their heads and destroys a nearby building. They raise their arms to block the debris and both turn to see a group of shadows coming towards them. Rute looks closer and sees a squadron of girls with large guns flying towards them on what appear to be jetpacks. The lead girl raises her hand and throws it forward shouting a command and all the girls take aim and start firing missiles and green energy blasts at the two.

“Hey, watch out!” Rute runs to push the girl out of the way when she pushes him back first and she raises her hand and an invisible wall blocks all the projectiles in front of her. She looks back at Rute and her frowns with concern when she sees him.  _ ‘I’m sorry.’  _ She mentally tells the boy,  _ ‘You didn’t have to be dragged into this.’ _ When the last missile explodes, she holds her right hand over her head and invokes a name. "Qaspiel." Something resonates within Rute as light condenses in her hand, extending and shifting to form a long white scythe with a curved white blade and a blue gem in the center. The squadron of girls fires another round of shots but the girl spins the scythe in her hands and blocks all the projectiles sent at her while knocking a few back at the squadron. Rute watches with amazement how none of the shots got past her. “Wow, how does she do that?” He whispers to himself. She spins the scythe over her head and rears the blade back. “Get out of here.” She tells Rute without looking back. “Don’t let any of them see you.” The scythe blade lights up with silver energy and she jumps into the air to fight off all the girls by herself.

The squadron scatters apart as the girl swings her scythe, sending a wave of silver energy streaming at them. The girl keeps swinging in wide arcs, blocking all her sides and not leaving any openings for the squadrons to take advantage of. For a moment, Rute thinks that instead of seeing a clueless girl, he's looking at a monster. “What's going on? Why is she-“ His train of thought breaks when the girl turns around and he sees her face again. To his surprise instead of the cold hard stare he expected, her face is scrunched up looks like she's about to cry. That's when Rute sees that all of her moves aren’t out of skill, but rather out of desperation like she’s trying to ward off the squadron of girls without having to hurt them.

"If you have that much power, why are you so sad?" He says to himself when he is suddenly pushed back by someone getting knocked into him. He slams onto a fallen stone wall and when he gets back up, a girl indigo hair and a familiar face rest on top of him. "Wait is that you Renatan!? What are you doing here?!" Yuki shakes herself awake and widens her eyes when she sees Rute. "Rute?! I-I...” She looks down at her combat suit then back at him before lowering her head in regret, ”You shouldn't be here. You have to go.” Rute gets back up and puts his hands on her shoulders. “No! What are you doing?! Why are you fighting!” She closes her eyes and clenches the hand at her side into a fist. “I said LEAVE!!" Yuki lashes out, puts her hand against his chest and pushes him back while activating her territory, creating a dark green energy shield around her that expands from her suit. The energy field hits Rute square in the chest and pushes him off his feet into the air away from the battlefield. Yuki opens her eyes when she hears Rute’s body hit the pavement and looks to find his body sprawled on the ground. She face becomes expressionless as she looks down at his body. “I’m sorry Mr. Osaku, but this is the only way you’ll stay safe.” She says to him, not checking if he hears her or not. She turns back the fight and looks up at the spirit, who still has the upper hand against her team. “You spirits took everything from me that day, now I’m going to have my revenge.” She takes a baton out of her utility belt and it expands into a white energy sword. Her jetpack burns to life and she shoots right back into the fight.

The silver-haired girl was getting tired from all the scythe swinging and her pace gradually slows down enough for the squad to regroup and shoot again. She sees a small cluster of the girls take aim at her and she rears her scythe back for a big attack. “No, you don’t!” Another voice comes out of nowhere and the spirit feels something holding her scythe back. She turns around to see Yuki holding her scythe back with her own sword. She looks at the other girl and sees a burning desire in her dark blue eyes. “I won’t let you spirits hurt anyone else!” Yuki says defiantly. She knocks the scythe out of the girl’s hands and swings her blade with both hands down on her. The silver-haired girl crosses her arms over her head to block the hit, but the force of the strike knocks her back and sends her flying to the ground. The spirit lands in a large cloud of dust, the impact shaking the earth.

* * *

 

Outside the battlefield, Rute’s body twitches and scrunches his face while lying back on the ground. In his mind, he is kneeling in front of a tall shadow with glowing white eyes standing over him. “Are you just going to lay there and let the girl get hurt?” The shadow asks him in a distorted feminine voice. “She is the key to unlocking the chains that have bound your mind.” Rute stands up and looks at the shadow with a confused expression, “Chains binding my mind? A key to opening it?” He puts his hands on his head and shakes it. “This is so confusing. What are you talking about?” The shadow puts a hand to its chin and looks down at the boy with contemplation. “Alright, it seems like you don’t believe in your power. How about I let you have a taste of what you can really do.” She reaches over and takes the hand of Rute and the boy feels a small electric shock run through his body. The spirit places a hand on his chest and his heart starts to faintly glow blue. “It seems the spark I placed in you hasn’t done out yet.” From within the shadows, Rute could see a warm smile from the person within. “Now wake up.” The figure tells him, “It’s time for the story to move to the next chapter.” The figure suddenly explodes into white light and Rute covers his eyes as he is forced out of his dream.

* * *

 

In the real world, his body wakes up and the electric shock continues to buzz in his heart. His tosses and turns as the shadow’s voice speaks to him once again. “I present to you your Angel, call its name and it shall grant you wondrous power.” He clenches his fist and forces himself to his feet, a hand reaching for his neck and loosening his tie. “...” The voice silently whispers the name of his so-called “Angel” and his eyes snap open with a bright blue glow.

The spirit coughs from the dust of her fall and she blindly brushes it away with her hand. The mechanical clicking around her stops her hand and the dust is blown away by all the other girls who land in a circle standing over her, all guns pointed down. The spirit tries to get up, but a shot rings out and the bullet hits the dirt near her hand. “Stay where you are! Don’t move!” One of the girls yells at her. Another girl looks back as the one with indigo hair slowly lands on the ground. “Renatan! She’s down! Finish her off!”

Her indigo hair covers one of Yuki’s eyes, but the other eye has turned dark and she walks towards the downed spirit. She turns the sword in her hands and holds it backward and holds it with two hands above the fallen spirit. Unknown to those around them, both the hearts of Yuki and the spirit were beating fast, one out of fear, the other out of anticipation. Yuki plants her foot on the spirit’s stomach, holding her down against the ground. Yuki notices something about her and takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. ‘Why are my hands shaking. One of the people that ruined my life is literally under my foot and I’m hesitating?’ She takes a deep gulp and aims her sword at the heart of the spirit. The spirit, however, looks up the thin blade and starts to hyperventilate.  _ ‘Is this the end already?’ _ The face of the boy for earlier suddenly appears in her mind and a single tear streams down her face.  _ ‘I’m sorry whoever you are. I never got to say sorry for dragging you into my problems. Goodbye.’ _

As she closes her eyes and accepts her fate, a loud rumble is heard from behind the group. Yuki drops her stance and the entire group looks behind them as the sky overhead darkens with clouds. The body of a boy rises from the rubble of the battlefield and raises his head into the sky, his eyes glowing a brilliant blue. The wind suddenly picks up around the girls and the sky darkens as a thunderstorm starts to form overhead. Everyone watches in shock as the boy exhibits the same powers as the spirits until the real commander of the squadron, a woman with short black hair, snaps out of her daze and points at Rute with her hand. “All troops, focus on the new target! Take it down!” The girls take aim with their guns and start firing at the boy and the eyes of the spirit widen as he does nothing to evade the attack. Instead, he sweeps his hand to the side and a gust of wind blows not only nullifies the energy shots but blows the missiles back at the girls.

The gust is so strong it rushes down the crater and breaks apart their formation, leaving the spirit girl alone in the crater, looking up at the boy with glowing blue eyes. A voice speaks to her in her head,  _ ‘This is your “Key” to unlocking your heart. Protect it well.’  _ She puts a hand over her heart and clenches her fist.  _ ‘My “Key?” What does this mean?’ _ In a bolt of lightning, the boy suddenly flashes in front of the girl, making her gasp. The boy’s blue glowing eyes pierce the girl’s soul as he stares at her. “We have to go. You can’t stay here.” He tells her in a lower reverberating voice, instead of the voice he had when he talked to her earlier. He places a hand on her shoulder the two of them turn into a bolt of lightning and shoot into the center of the storm, dispelling the clouds in a burst of wind.

The squadron of girls, pick themselves back up after the wind burst and look around for the spirits, only to find nothing. The leader stamps her foot and grits her teeth, “Dang it! We lost them!” She looks back at her team and when she sees them all sprawled in the ground, she sighs and makes a spinning motion with her finger. “Alright, everybody pack it up. Regroup at the base. We’ll find another lead on the Nightbloom spirit later.” Everyone activates their jetpacks and moves to fly away, but they don’t see Yuki silently split away from the group. She runs into the shadows of an alleyway to change her out of her combat clothes.  _ ‘Sorry leader, but I have my own lead on the Nightbloom.’  _ She puts on her school uniform takes a special black phone out of her pocket and the turns it on. The machine boots up and the screen displays a single purple with a “Y” connected to a blue dot with an “R” by a white line. She thinks back to when she pushes Rute with her territory, her hand placing a tracker on his shoulder when she touched him. “I have to protect him. I can’t let that spirit hurt him. I won’t let them take anyone else from me.” She confidently tells herself before walking out of the alleyway to the open street, following the line to Rute’s position.

* * *

 

In another part of the city, Rute and the spirit strike down on the top of a tall building and step away from each other. The spirit coughs and pats her chest to catch her breath from how fast they moved through the air. “*huff* *huff* How were you able to do that?” She asks the boy who is bent over with his hands on his knees, “I thought humans weren’t able to have special powers?” The boy looks back up at the girl, the sparkle in his eyes flickering like a light. “You have no idea who I am.” He confidently tells her with his still deep voice.

The spirit wants to ask more questions, but the light literally leaves his eyes and the boy slumps over and lands face down against the concrete. The spirit looks down at the boy’s sleeping body and feels drawn to him. “Who are you? Why do I feel this way? Is it because you’re supposed to be my “Key?” She wonders to herself. She walks over and rests the boy’s head down on her lap, letting him get his rest. “Whoever you are, I hope you wake up soon. I have questions to ask you, and I have to ask why you did what you did for me.”


	4. The Dark side of the Moon

Rute opens his eyes and once again he’s standing in front of the shadowy figure as it stares down at him with a hand on its chin. “Hmmm. It seems you weren’t prepared to take on you Angel’s power.” It gets up and paces the room, looking deep in thought. “I wonder why that is so? The Angel is supposed to be a part of you after all.” It suddenly snaps its fingers and nods its head with understanding turning to look back at Rute. “Ahhh I think I see the problem, you don’t believe all of this is real, do you?” Rute nods his head in confirmation and the spirit hums in approval. “Well that is to be expected, most people don’t believe in the supernatural.” The figure walks up to Rute and bends down to look him dead in the eye. “In that case listen well. Whatever happens, after you wake up will overturn all preconceived reason you have. I suggest you prepare yourself for what's to come.” It gets back up and slowly walks back. “When the time is right, let’s hope you already know what needs to done.” The figure snaps its fingers and its eyes suddenly brighten like a spotlight making Rute covers his eyes with his arms as it forces him out of the dream.

* * *

 

For the second time that day, Rute wakes up from a strange dream and has no idea where he currently was. His eyes snap open and he looks around and sees the tops of buildings and skyscraper fans in his line of vision, shaded slightly orange in the evening light. He stands up and scratches his head at his predicament. “How in the world did I go from the street to one of the tallest buildings in Tenguu city?” He wonders aloud. He hears some movement behind him and he turns around to see the same girl with he met in the crater, sleeping against a whirling fan blade. Rute takes a step back when he recognizes the girl. “Hey what is she doing here?” He wonders aloud and slowly walks forward to get a better look at her.

Her clothes remained the same, the long dress ruffled slightly and her arms hand a few scratches but she otherwise looked the OK. Rute walks over and sits down next to the girl and eyes her questioningly.  _ ‘Who are you, no better question  _ **_what_ ** _ are you? Where did she get that power?’ _ He thinks to himself before she starts moving her body. She turns herself over to the other side to face Rute and mumbles something in her sleep while extending her hand towards him. Rute moves closer to her and leans his head to hear her better when her hand grabs him by the collar, “Please, stay with me.” She breathes rather suggestively and pulls Rute closer to her and wraps her other arm around him.

Rute feels his face heat up from the closeness if the girl, specifically the closeness from his face from hers and tried to gently wiggle out of her grasp. “Hey! Hey, wake up! Let go of me! Hey!” The shaking and his shouting wakes up the girl and her eyes meet his only a short distance away from each other. Her face turns as red as his and she screeches and pushes him away. “What are you doing?! Get away from me!?” Rute is pushed on to his feet by the girl and the girl covers her body with her arms, the blush covers her whole face and the glares at the Rute. “Why were you laying down next to me?! What did you do to me!?” She screeches at him. He frantically waves his hands in front of him in innocence. “Nothing! Nothing I swear! You were the one who hugged me in your sleep!” Luna’s eyes He quickly tells her.

The girl drops her gaze and her eyes focus on Rute when she remembers something. “What did you do?” She asks him nervously. Rute looks at her with a skeptical face. “I told you, I didn’t do anything. Why is that so hard to believe?” He says back exasperatedly. The girl shakes her head and gets up from the ground, “No not that. I mean how did you get us out of there? What was that power you used to save me?” Rute lowers his hands and looks at the girl with a confused expression. “What are you talking about? The last thing I remember was being pushed back onto the street by one of those armed girls I was talking to. The next thing I know, I’m here with you? Anything that happened before that is beyond me.” The girl looks at him with her head tilted to the side, but she puts a hand to her mouth out of shock. “You’re telling the truth,” She breathes in surprise. “But if that’s true then…” She loses her voice as a brief image of Rute in his empowered from appears and stands side by side with the boy. _ ‘He has more power than me, and he doesn’t even know it yet.’ _ She mentally tells herself.

Rute looks at the girl as she tries to understand his story and remembers something he wanted to ask her about the battle. He puts his hands in his pockets and kicks the ground awkwardly. “Hey I-” His voice breaks the girl’s train of thought and she turns to listen to him. “When you were fighting those girls back in the crater, why did it look like you were holding back?” The girl breathes in a sharp breath and girls her elbow with her other hand. “It looked like you had more power than them,” Rute continues, “Yet you fought like you were desperately trying to run away. Why is that.” The girl grips her elbow even tighter and takes a deep breath before answering. “Do you remember when I said I didn’t know what family was back in the crater?” Rute nods his head and she looks up at him with nothing but sadness in her eyes. “I don't know who I am. My first memories were waking up in this cold dark place. I was then forced out of the space into the crater where I met you and those noisy flying people. Anything else before that is all fuzzy.” She looks down sadly at her hand. “What am I going to do? I don’t have anything and I’m not as strong as you, I can’t fight against those girls by myself.” She looks down dejectedly and tears well up in her eyes. “Maybe I should just let them take me out. It’s probably for the best. No one is going to save me anymore.” Those words and the look on her face sparks something inside Rute. A massive headache sets on in him and he falls to his knees and puts his hands on his temples to dull the pain. The girl snaps out of her reverie and quickly kneels down next to him with her hands up in concern. “What's happening?! Are you OK?!” She yells worriedly.

* * *

 

A memory pierces Rute’s mind and he is transported to a suburban area surrounded in flames. He feels the fire lick at his feet and he coughs from the smoke. He puts his hand over his mouth and looks around to see if he could find anyone. The sound of someone screaming is heard from behind him and he turns around to see the silhouette of a girl lying on the ground and a boy stopping in front of her and looking back. She reaches out to the boy, who runs back to help her up, but a burning telephone pole suddenly snaps and fall in between them, blowing the flames and making them rise even higher.

Rute shields himself from the flames with his arms and he hears the continued sound of the girl crying. He steels himself and jumps through the flames to help the girl his body getting slightly torched in the fire. When he reaches the other side, a flash of dark light blinds him and he stumbles aimlessly trying to reach the girl, only to reappear in the same area he talks to the shadow in. Standing in the center, a young girl with silver hair stares up at him with curious eyes. “Hello Mr., It's nice to see you again. Are you the one who is going to save me this time?” She asks innocently. Rute sees a brief flash of the girl reaching out to him in a sea of flames and he blinks to see her replaced with the same girl he was with in the real world. “Please whoever you are.” The girl calls out to him. “Please save me this time.”

* * *

 

Back in the real world, the girl looks down worriedly at Rute’s body as he lies down prone on the concrete. His eyes slowly open and he slowly picks himself up from the ground with the help of the girl. Rute looks at the girl and she is briefly replaced by the younger version of her he saw in his dream. “I’ll do it.” He firmly tells her and when she looks confused at what he was saying, Rute takes her hands in his own and looks her straight in the eye. “I’ll be the one to save you. I couldn’t before, so I’ll make it up to you now.” He stands up onto his feet, but his gaze at her doesn’t waver in the slightest. “I promise. I will save you. Nothing is going to stop me.” He tells her with conviction.

The girl looks up at Rute with a stunned face and feels a something well up inside her and flushes her with heat. _ ‘Who is this boy? Why does he make me feel this way?’ _ She wonders as she puts her hand over her heart, feeling it beat faster than normal.  _ ‘What is this feeling? It feels so… good. I don’t want it to end yet?’ _ A smile slowly appears on her face as she stands back up. “All right. I trust you.” She puts her hand over her his and held it up. “You can save me this time, right?” He nods his head and steps away from her, and much to her annoyance, let’s go of her hand.  “Alright then, first is introductions. Let's say our-” He stops mid-sentence and puts a hand to his chin and gives the girl a sideways look. “Actually, do you have a name? Or anything I can call you?” She shakes her head in response and Rute carefully eyes her clothes to find anything that could be a name for her. _ ‘She has silver flowers on her dress, but against a black background, it might be too edgy and dark for someone like her. Did she call her weapon Qaspiel right? That scythe actually looked like the moon for a bit- Wait that's it!’ _

“How about “Luna?” Rute tells the girl and she tilts her head to the side in confusion. ”Lu-na?” She says the name tentatively, “Luna, I like it. Now I have a name.” She puts a hand on her chest and smiles. “Thank you… um?” Rute chuckles and extends his hand, “I’m Rute Osaku. It’s nice to meet you, Luna.” She slowly reaches out her hand and takes his in a handshake. “You too, Rute.” She says back. Rute looks down at her clothes and realizes something. “Luna, before we go can you change into something else? You might draw suspicion if you walk around in a dress.” Luna looks down and raises an eyebrow. “What can I wear? I don’t have any other clothes.” Rute sighs and looks through his phone and finds an old picture of him, Arata and Mia’s trio of friends and points to them. “Here, try copying one of them.” Luna looks down at the picture and gives the phone back to Rute. “OK then.” She raises her hand into the air and her clothes unravel into a glowing veil, before coming back together as a white sweater, long jeans, and black boots. She eyes her clothes with an innocent look in her eyes. “Is this OK?” She asks him with a raised eyebrow. Rute chuckles taking her hand and pulls her towards the door of the building they are in. “You look perfect, now it's time I saved you.“ A blush suddenly covers her cheeks, and she nods her head as they go into the building and the door shuts behind them.

* * *

 

Yuki hides in an alleyway near the main entrance of the building Rute was in. She looks down at the tracker and sees his indicator staying in the same spot in the building. “Rute, I really hope you’re not with that spirit girl.” She says to herself, thinking back to the battle in the crater. The brief glimpse of him in the center of the storm and blowing her and her team away with a single wave of his hand. ‘What was that back there?’ She thinks to herself, putting a hand on her chest and clenching her hand.  _ ‘Could it be that he… no that's not possible.’ _ The tracker beeps and she looks down to see the Rute’s marker leaving the building from the near where she was. She looks to the entrance of the building to see Rute walking out with the same dark-haired spirit from before. The two talk for a bit before Rute gestures down the street and they start walking. Yuki's eyes widen in shock and she clenches the tracker so hard it almost breaks. ‘I’m not letting him go out with that girl.’ She mentally tells herself and puts the tracker away to follow the two teens on whatever they are doing.  _ ‘Never again am I letting anyone get hurt because of them. The spirits have to die, and I will be the one to kill them all.’ _


	5. First Date - Luna

Luna looks in awe at the building Rute brings her to. People walk in and out of the doors on all sides, carrying things like backpacks shopping bags and purses. Realizing how much people there are, Luna shies away from them and clings to Rute’s arm. “Rute, where are we? Why are there so much people?” She worriedly asks him. Rute calmly smiles at her and pulls her forward by her hand.“This is a shopping mall, people come here for lots of different reasons but the most common is to buy new things for themselves.” Luna looks around at the men and women around her turning their heads to stare at her, some turning their heads to whisper to their friends next to them. Luna turns away from the people and pulls her hood down over her head. “Why are they looking at me?” She whispers to herself.

Rute feels Luna press up against him and he looks down at her concerned. “Do you want to go somewhere else?” He asks her quietly. “We can if you want.” Luna sees his concern for her and takes a deep breath to calm herself.  _ ‘I have to be strong, I can’t run from this.’ _ She internally tells herself and pushes away from Rute. “No, it's fine. Let’s just go inside.” She tells him with a slightly shaking voice. Rute hears the fear in her voice and pulls her hood up, letting her hair out. “Don’t worry, I’m right here.” He tells her and he takes her hand and pulls her into the mall, feeling her hand loosen up in her grip.

* * *

 

The lights of the building and the many floors of the building amaze Luna and she puts her arms out as she turns on her heels to see everything. “So, this is a shopping mall?” She wonders out loud. Rute walks up behind her with his hands in pockets and looks out at the crowd. “Yeah, my sister and I always go here when we have to buys new things or if we just want to relax.” He goes over the glass railing near the center of the mall and looks over the edge. “I know this place from top to bottom, so I can take you wherever you want.” Luna walks up next to him and sees the line coming from a small stall in the basement level. Small groups go together and leave with ice cream cones in their hands, making Luna point at them curiously. “Rute, what are they holding?” Rute follows her line of vision to the stand and sees what she’s talking about. “Oh, that called ice cream. It’s sort of like cold milk you can eat.” Luna feels her stomach rumble loudly and places her hand over it as Rute turns to her, making her blush in embarrassment. “If you wanted one you could just ask.” He tells her with a chuckle and when she grabs his arms and nods her head rapidly. “Can we! Please!?” She asks him, full of excitement.

He takes her hand and leads her down to the stall where a woman with gray hair and an orange uniform with an apron stands behind the counter and smiles at the two. “Hello there! What can I get you two today?” She asks in a cheerful voice, but she flinches back when Luna presses up against the plexiglass and looks wide-eyed at the ice cream tubs behind it. “This looks so good! Which one should I get!?” She squeals in excitement, grabbing the attention of others who look on in confusion. The stall owner smiles and pulls out a paper board with a picture of a large ice cream sundae and shows it too. “If you want to miss, we can give you and your boyfriend this couple’s sundae we have? It’s only for couples and you can only get it today.”

Luna stops breathing against the glass and looks up at the woman in confusion. “Sorry, but what's a couple? Is it a person?” She asks innocently. The women’s smile drops and she looks at Luna with a questioning face and twiddles her fingers to formulate her words. “Oh I’m sorry for assuming, but a couple is two or more people who both like each other and do things together.” She points from Luna to Rute as she talks. “You two are like that right?” Luna and Rute feel their faces heat up from embarrassment and start stuttering. “Um, well we- ah. “ Rute sees Luna fidgeting with her sweater and takes a deep breath before wrapping his arm around her shoulder, making her jump. “Yes, we’re a couple. This is our first date so we’re not used to people calling us out on our relationship.” Luna looks up at him and when sees the confidence in his eyes, she blushes even harder. “Y-Yeah we are a couple…I guess.” She says the last part quietly so Rute doesn’t hear it.

The stall owner claps her hand and tilts her head to the side with a smile. “Alright, one couples sundae coming right up!” She happily tells the two and when she turns to make it, Rute lets go of Luna and lets her catch her breath. “Sorry about that, but I…” Rute starts but Luna cuts him off, “Don’t apologize.” Rute is taken aback from her sudden forcefulness and when she wraps her arms around him and pulls him closer, he raises his arms away from her in shock. “What are you doing to me?” She asks him in a stuttering voice. “My heart always beats faster when I’m with you and I don’t understand this feeling in my chest.” She tightens her grip and Rute feels her handshake against his back. “Is it a bad thing? I don’t know anymore. Why did you have to say that we’re together?” Rute hears some sobbing from her and lowers his head to looks down at her, his hair shadowing his eyes. “I said it because it’s true.” Luna feels his arms wrap around her and his body loosens up against her. “I said I’d save you right? So I will, and I won’t leave you until I do.” He whispers to her and she slightly loosens her arms. “I get that you’re confused right now, but I will help you understand this feeling, is that OK with you?” He asks her calmly.

Luna breaks away from him and looks into his eyes hopefully. “Will you really stay with me? Even if I make thing hard for you?” Rute nods his head and wipes the tears from her eyes. “Of course I will, I won’t leave until I save you for real this time.” She smiles in relief and holds his hand against her cheek. “OK then, stay with me please, and never leave my side.” Rute smiles and pulls her into another hug, slowly rubbing her back to calm her down. “I won’t leave, I promise.” The two hear the sound of glass clinking and look to the stall counter.

The woman holds out the promised couple’s sundae, which was a glass bowl with two scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, topped with cherries and strawberry syrup. The lady smiles at the two and pushes the sundae to them on the counter. “One couple’s sundae for the two-“ She opened her eyes and looks at Luna and Rute with concern. “Hey what happened? Are you two Ok?” She asks concerned. Rute and Luna look at each other smiling and Luna looks back at the woman. “Yes, we’re doing much better now.”

They break their hug and Rute pays for the sundae while Luna picks it up and looks it over, her mouth watering at the size. “It looks so much better in person.” She whispers to herself. As Rute pays for the sundae, the woman leans down and whispers to Rute. “Did something happen when I wasn’t looking?” Rute looks behind him and sees how happy Luna is and chuckles to himself. “No, we just talked a bit.” The woman nods her head and hands over the receipt. “Alright, have a good day then!” She tells them happily. Rute takes the receipt from her and nods his head. “You too, thanks for the ice cream.” Rute and Luna walk away to a nearby table to eat and the woman turns away and takes her phone out and texts a single message to an anonymous number.  **[Nightbloom has made contact. Send AST immediately.]**


	6. Reawakening

Yuki watches in silence as the black spirit takes Rute around the mall they were in. She stays behind the two, going out of her way to stay within ten feet of the pair but out of their line of sight. She takes note of the places they go on their…'Date' she assumes and makes sure not to leave any details out of what they did that day for future reference. She left her microphone off so that she doesn't get distracted by her superiors and she could have free reign over her self-imposed mission.

That didn't stop her leader from repeatedly calling and texting her to report on her whereabouts. After declining the call for the umpteenth time, she ended up turning her phone completely off. As she put it back in her pocket, the speakers in the mall came to life making everyone stop to listen.  **[Please be informed, the mall is closing soon. We ask that you take care of any business you have and leave as soon as possible. Thank you for shopping with us today and we hope to see you again soon!** ] The announcement ends and Yuki sees Rute and the black spirit move towards the exit of the mall. She briefly hears Rute mention an outlook and quickly follows the two out of the mall into the night and slips away into the shadows of an alleyway. _ 'Time to make my move.'  _ Yuki thinks to herself as she activates her realizer suit.

* * *

 

Rute guides Luna through the night, the smile on her face full of happiness. The two of them went around the mall the entire day, Luna having dragged Rute around to almost every store they saw. While Rute let her choose where they would go, he had to keep her from breaking or dropping everything she got her hands on. Luna skips to keep up with Rute as they go through the night at looks at him with wonder. "Hey, where are we going now Rute?" She asks him innocently. Rute looks back and smiles at her. "Just wait, you'll see." He tells her with a smirk.

He takes her to the near the edge of the city and to an outlook that looks over the entire city. Luna runs up to the edge and marvels at city lights flickering in the night. Her expression softens and she starts to tear up as she sees the life down below. "I've only been here for a single day and I have seen so much in that short time. I've seen happiness, joy and maybe something more. I got to go on a date with someone, I got to meet someone would stay by my side and he took me to places I never saw before. Today was so wonderful." Luna's smile starts to look pained and she starts to lower her head in sorrow. "But if I wake up in that crater again with those girls shooting at me, I'd only be a burden to everyone and cause more destruction." Rute reaches out to comfort her, but she turns around he can see tears streaming down her face, her expression one of pure sadness. "Listen Rute, thank you for everything you did today. But I… I think it's better if I didn't stay here anymore. For everyone's sake, I should leave and never come back."

Rute's eyes widen at her words and he looks down, the shadow of his hair covering his eyes. "That's now true." He tells her through clenched teeth. Luna closes her eyes and tenses, expecting him to get angry at her, but her eyes widen when she feels his arms wrap around her instead, pulling her into a tight hug. "Don't ever say that," he whispers into her ear. "You don't understand how much you mean to me." He tightens the hug and Luna starts to tear up, wrapping him in a hug too. "Many people don't accept you, I get it. But do you really believe that leaving will make anything better? I told you I save you, didn't I? If I couldn't today then maybe I can tomorrow!"

Luna buries her face into his shoulder and cries even harder. "What if you can't! What if I am unable to be saved?! What if you have to keep waking up the next day trying to fulfill a promise that can't be done!? I can't do that to you! I can't make you stay with me for the rest of my life!"

"Who says you're making me stay!" Rute suddenly yells back making Luna break away from him and step back startled by his confession. "Maybe you're right, maybe I can't fulfill the promise I made. But that won't stop me from trying! I'm not saying because you're making me, I'm staying because that's what I decided to do!"

Rute puts his right hand over his heart and looks Luna right in the eyes. "You already have a place inside my heart. You can't take that away from me. There may be people who say you should leave, but it's you who has to decide what to do. Do you understand?" Luna hears the honesty in his voice and places a hand over her heart, which throbs from all the emotions stirring inside her. Rute holds his hand out and that's when Luna sees something that makes her eyes water. The boy from her dream with blue eyes and all stands in front of her again, the darkness of its form filled in with Rute's presence. "Even if the rest of the world leaves you, I'll still be here and I will never leave your side!"

It was at that moment Luna realized, she didn't have to find her reason to live. Instead, her reason found to her. Rute Osaku, the boy that gave her a name, gave me her joy, and now a reason to keep living. She reaches out her shaking hand to take his when Rute suddenly freezes and feels something shoots up his spine. He looks pat Luna into the trees behind her and sees something that makes him pale in fear.

* * *

 

Yuki lies on her stomach in her realizer suit, a large sniper rifle in her and pointed to the supposed 'couple.' She aims the rifle at the back of the white spirit's head, Luna as Rute named her and exhales a long drawn out breath. 'This time you won't get away from me!' She confidently thinks in her head and fires a single powerful shot at Luna. The recoil of the gun knocks her earphone off her and it lands on the ground on its switch. It turns on and for a brief moment, Yuki could hear a robotic voice saying,  **[Warning! Do not engage Nightbloom after dark. Repeat. Do not engage Nightbloom in the dark.]**

* * *

 

Luna is startled when Rute suddenly pushes her back, making her fall to the floor. "Hey what are you…!?" She yells back at him when she sees him suddenly clutch his chest and his eyes widen. The two of them look down to see a dark red liquid spread out from under his hand, staining his clothes. Luna gets one final look at Rute's eyes before the gloss over and his body fall to the floor. "RUTE!" She cries in shock and kneels down to shake his prone body. "Come on wake up! Wake up Rute! Wake up!" She gets no response from him and when she looks down at her crimson hands, the reality starts to sink in. "No… Why? Why did it have to be you?" She says in a shaking voice.

She lowers her head and a shadow covers her eyes. "You were my only friend. You made me a promise." Tears start to fall from her face, "You told me you wouldn't leave me!" She wails in anguish. "You said you would find my reason to live. You said you would save me! But it doesn't matter anymore.  **_None of it matters now because you're dead!_ ** " She screams in anguish, the sound resonating through the area. A flash of silver shines from her heart and it bursts out in a blast of wind, knocking everything back.

Luna raises her hand into the air, calling out her angel. "Qaspiel!" She begins to float into the air, scythe from before appears in her hand and her Astral dress reforms over her clothes. Once the dress fully appears on her, the silver flowers patterns on it begin to shine, inverting the colors and blooming into real flowers, giving the dress a shimmering white petal design. Her scythe also goes through a transformation, its colors changing from black and blue to a pale silver that reflects the moonlight like a mirror. She lands on the ground and turns to the side of the cliff, narrowing her dark silver eyes in anger. "You will all pay." She snarls as she holds up Qaspiel, twirling it over her head before bringing it down in an arc in front of her.  **"YOU WILL ALL PAY!"** She screams as a wave of shining silver energy shoots out from the blade as she swings it and it flies toward the cliff.

Yuki barely has any time to jump away before the wave of energy hits the cliff, cleanly slicing off the ledge she was on.  **[Renatan!]** She commander yells at her through her fallen microphone,  **[The sprint readings around you are off the charts! Retreat now! Get out of there!]** Yuki tries to activate her jetpack to get away when she hears something behind her, "Why?" She turns around and sees Luna holding the back edge of her scythe up to her neck. "Why did you do this?" She asks with the same monotonous voice. "He did nothing wrong! He was innocent!  **HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE!** " Yuki activates her territory and knocks the spirit back, forcing the scythe away. "Please, stop. I can't..." She says with a shaking voice.

The spirit brandishes the scythe, tears streaming down her face. "I was lonely until he gave me light. He gave me a reason to live. You took that light away. You took it ALL AWAY! I have nothing because of you! If you see me as a monster,  **THEN I WILL BECOME ONE** ! Luna starts to furiously hack and slash at Yuki's territory, each one fueled by anger and stronger than the next. Yuki doesn't try to move out of the way for any of the attacks. Everything else in the world fades and becomes blurry. The only things clear to her are the spirit's words, ringing through her head, 'He didn't deserve to die!' She starts crying. 'I've got done it. I've become like them. A murderer, a beast… a spirit.' She weakly looks up at the crying girl in front of her as she slams down against her with all her strength and submits herself to her fury.

* * *

 

Rute's eyes snap open and he finds himself floating in a blank area. The world around him is a copy of the real world, but everything is layered in pure white making it hard to looks at. He shades his eyes with his hand and looks around, hearing nothing around him. "Hello!" He calls out, but his voice echoes through the emptiness. He shakes his head and looks down, his eyes widening when he sees his dead body on the floor next to him, blood seeping out of his chest. "Is that me?" He says to himself in disbelief. "I'm dead, just like. Is it all over now?" He floats down and crumples to his knees next to his body, looking down in despair when he hears something behind him.

_ {Well, yes and no.} _ A woman's voice says behind him and Rute quickly gets up and turns around and sees the shadow from before walking toward him.  _ {Yes, you are quite dead, that you can plainly see. But no, this isn't the end, in fact, it is only the beginning} _ She holds her left arm to the side and summons a Shepard's crook that appears to be made of ash wood and raises it over her head before striking the ground in front of her. Rute watches as her form slowly distorts to resemble electronic static and when the veil dissipates, the shadow changed into a woman wearing a white robe that went down to her feet with a hood slightly covering her long blonde hair that poked out from under the hood and went down to her shoulders. She opens her pale silver eyes and looks at Rute, who stares at her with disbelief.  _ {I believe introductions are in order.} _ She tells him in the same voice as before, but it was higher now that she was out of shadow form.  _ {You may call me Shepard, she who leads the people through the darkness.} _

She walks over to Rute and put a hand to his cheek rubbing it gently with her thumb.  _ {It's been so long since I last saw you in person. You've grown so much, gained such conviction. You're not the same boy I met five years ago.} _ Her words trigger something in Rute and he remembers the events of that day. The Tenguu fire, the girl he failed to save, him falling to the ground with the flames edging closer. Now he remembers the voice, the voice that saved him from the fire. He looks up at the woman and his eyes widen in realization as he pieces everything together.

_ {I assume you understand now?} _ She asks him with a raised eyebrow. Rute nods his head and sees a smile from under her hood.  _ {Yes I am the one that saved you in the Tenguu fire. You risked your life to save someone you didn't know and you almost lost your life for it.} _ She reaches into the right sleeve of her robe and pulls out a large circular stone with a pulsing blue glow like a heart,  _ {But now you have the power. The glow of this stone means that your Angel has truly accepted you and will let you wield its power.} _ Rute looks down at the stone, feeling the conflicting feelings clash in his head. He knew of the power this 'Angel' gave him, but the last time he used it he was knocked unconscious.  _ {Don't worry about falling unconscious again} _ Shepard tells Rute, having seemingly read his mind.  _ {The power I let you use was incomplete, and you have no conviction to use it yet. But now that you have a reason worth fighting for, I'm sure that it will accept you this time.} _

  
Shepard suddenly looks behind Rute and the two see the area visibly shaking around them. {It seems we're out of time. You have to go and stop Luna from going on a rampage.} She reaches out and places the pulsing stone in a Rute's hand and the blue light brightens and spread from the stone to all over his body.  _ {The stone will heal your body,} _ Shepard explains calmly.  _ {This is the only time it will do this for you so try not to die anymore OK.} _ Rute nods in understanding and he feels his body mending itself back together and his world starts to go black as he re-enters life.  _ {Until we meet again, Rute Osaku.} _ Shepard's voice resonates in his head before his world is consumed by darkness.


	7. Promises to be kept

Snapping out of his dream with his eyes wide in surprise, Rute quickly props himself up and takes quick breaths to refill his lungs with his air. He places his hand on his chest and feels the soft smoothness of skin where the bullet once was.  _ ‘I’m all better? I guess Shepard was serious about the stone healing me.’ _ Rute thinks in relief. The ground suddenly shakes underneath him and he wobbles on his feet and flails his arms to keep balance. “Whoa, what's going on!?” He exclaims when he shades his eyes from a flash of silver light shines from the forest near him.

He turns and squints through the light to see the faint silhouette of a scythe slashing down at the ground. “Is that Luna?” Rute gasps in awe. “What’s she doing?” He wonders when a shock wave flies toward him and he jumps away to the side as it slashes the ground where he once stood, leaving a small crack in the ground. “She could get someone killed with that!” He exclaims as some of the slashes fly towards the city below them. I…I-“ He looks down at his hands and remembers the word of Shepard before she left. ‘Now that you have a reason to fight for, I’m sure it will accept you this time.’ Rute clenches his fist as the name of his angel appears in his mind in glowing blue letters. The clouds start to swirl above him as the name brands itself in his mind and he feels the power growing in his chest.

“This time for sure,” Rute tells himself reassuringly as he raises his hand to the sky. “Come forth, my true power, BARAKIEL!” As soon as the words leave his mouth, the sky splits apart as three bolts of lightning strike down on his hand, doing down to his heart which shines bright blue and fills Rute with new strength. He lets out a roar as the power envelops him and a shockwave bursts from the force.

* * *

 

Up on the cliff, Luna continues her onslaught of attacks on Yuki, only now she’s smashed down on her hard enough that the territory broke away the land under her, forming a crater beneath Yuki and making her fall in. Suddenly, the shockwave hits the cliff and pushes Luna off of Yuki, who dispels her territory and dry heaves from the exhaustion. Luna turns around in rage and quickly picks up Qaspiel again. “You’re not getting away!” She yells and raises the scythe, but before she can bring it down on the prone Yuki, the light that shines from beyond the trees and blinds her, making her drop the scythe and covering her eyes. “What the?! What is that?!”

The light dies down and Yuki looks at the outlook with wide eyes and lets out a final breath before passing out. “Rute…No…”  Luna’s eyes widen from Yuki’s words and she quickly grabs Qaspiel and jumps away back to the outlook. Yuki’s body remains in the crater, her mind wandering in a dream. Unknown to her, a small tendril of silver light worms its way into her body, the light merging with her heart and turning slightly purple in color as it pulsated with her heartbeat.

* * *

 

Luna lands on the outlook and instead of the corpse she expected to see, Rute was standing in its place. He had the same clothes as Rute, only that the tie was looseness and flaps in the wind. His hair was slightly raised and spiked in the back of his head and blue lightning sparked and cracked around him in a veil. He turned around as Luna landed and looked at her with shining blue eyes. Rute smiles warmly and takes a single step forward. “Luna… Is that you.” He wonders aloud, but he quickly jumps back when she swings Qaspiel at his feet, putting a good amount of distance between them.

“Luna!? What was that for!?” He asks in confusion, but he has to quickly roll away when another slash of energy is fired at him. “Don’t you dare…” Luna snarls under her breath, and when she raises her head at Rute, he can see the silver light that shines from them. “Don’t you dare use is image against me! How could you do you know who he was to me!” Rute takes a step away from her, stunned by her sudden confession. “He was everything to me! I was willing to give my own life for him!” She places a hand on her chest and clenches her heart, “He told me that he would always be with me, that no matter how long it took, he would eventually save me.” Rute sees tears well up in her eyes and streaks down her face. “In the end he actually did it. He saved me and gave me a place to live and a reason to stay. I owe him everything.” Rute feels his heart clench from her honesty but when she looks at him with tears streaming down her eyes, his heart completely shatters from regret. “I… loved him.” Luna says with a quivering voice, “I actually thought I could stay with him. I trusted him and he didn’t break his promise.” The tears stream faster down her face and they start dripping to the floor. “But… But they… They took him from me.” Light starts to swirl around Luna, forming a rising veil around her. “I… I will make them pay for what they’ve done.” She says in a low snarl and her eyes narrow in anger. “I will make them all pay, starting with you… the one that thinks it's funny to copy and use his against me!”

Luna immediately rushes forward, faster than Rute can dodge and brings Qaspiel down to his head. The boy quickly raises his arm to block the hit when the lightning surrounding him coalesces into the palm of his hand and erupts in a burst of light. As the light dies down, Rute slowly looks back at his hand and sees a long silver katana with a black grip and no handguard in his grasp. Blue lightning sparks from the blade and it repulses Qaspiel and Luna back, the recoil widening the distance between Rute and Luna.

Said girl looks at Rute with ever-increasing malice. “Who are you?” She asks as she readies her weapon. Rute gaze goes from her to his new weapon, which he clenches with resolve. ‘I will not abandon her.’ He firmly thinks to himself and holds his sword in a two-handed stance in front of him. “You probably can’t tell right now, but I am the Rute you know Luna. If you can’t see that then maybe I should help you see.” Rute tells Luna with lightning sparking around him. “Come at me, Luna! I’ll make you understand, even if it means I have to fight you for it.” The two rush towards each other with their weapons reared behind them and they clash in a bright shower of sparks.


	8. Darker moonlight

The night was quiet in Tenguu city, the only sound coming from the fierce battle at the outlook at the edge of the city. Sparks flew as blades of steel clashed with each other, one blade shining like the moon, the other sparkling with lightning. Luna slashes her scythe wildly, the blade whirling around her, leaving a silver trail of light behind the blade. “Why?!” She screams at her opponent, her anger clouding her judgment. “Why aren’t you dying yet?!”

Rute wards of Luna’s attacks, using the flat side of his sword to deflect the scythe away from him, sparks flying from his electrically charged blade, “I told you! I’m not a fake! I am Rute!” He yells at her, hoping to get her to realize. Luna puts her hands over her ears and shakes her head violently. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!” Her power flares out, making Rute stab his sword into the ground to prevent him from being blown away. “Rute was everything to me! And I would let you use him against me!”

Luna takes up Qaspiel and charges at Rute again, the blade reared back for an attack. Seeing her charge, Rute also rears his sword back, the blade charging up with a blue glow. When Luna brought her blade down on Rute he swung his sword upward, hitting her scythe on the blade. Barakiel crackled to life and the blades are forced back by a shockwave which blew back the nearby trees, the weapons flying out of their respective wielder’s hands.

The weapons shatter into sparkling shards as they hit the ground dazing Luna for a second. Rute uses that split second to run up and grabs her wrists before she can call her weapon back. “Let. Go. Of. Me!” She grunts as she struggles in Rute’s grip, twisting and turning her wrists to break free, but the boy keeps his grip on her arms. “I told you, even if the entire world abandoned you, I’d stay by your side!” Rute tells her confidently. Luna stops struggling and looks up at Rute, her anger subsiding and allowing her to see him clearly. She sees the blue shine in Rute’s eyes and she starts to shake in nervousness. “R-Rute? Is… Is it really you?” She asks hopefully.

Rute gently let’s go of her wrists and steps back, the absence of adrenaline making his spirit armor dissipate at the same time, returning his appearance to normal. Luna puts her hands over her mouth in joy as Rute opens his eyes again, the glow having left them, and he smiles at her, “Hey Luna. It’s nice to see you again.” Luna tries to hold in her tears, but when Rute opens his arms to her, she runs into his arms, buries her face in his shoulder and loudly sobs in relief. Rute gently wraps his arms around her and rubs her back in a calming manner, swinging from side to side. “Shh Shh. It’s OK, I’m here now.” Luna responds by tightening the hug and burying her head deeper into his shoulder.

“I… I thought that… She had killed you…” Luna stutters out in-between sobs. “I can’t do it… I can’t see you die like that again!” Rute looks at her solemnly, remembering the brief look if despair he saw in her eyes before he hit the ground. A shadow covers his eyes, and he pushes Luna away, “I’m sorry,” he whispers to her softly. “I won’t do that again, Luna.” He looks at her straight in the eye, Luna seeing the resolve in his eyes. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stay by your side, even if I have to come back from the dead to do so.” Luna looks at him with hopeful eyes, her heart hanging on by a wire, threaten in to break at any moment. “Do…do you mean that?” she asks quietly, her voice shaking with emotion. Rute nods his head, “Of course I do,” he says without hesitation.

Luna smiles and her clothes start to disintegrate into light sparkles. “Really…? That’s great…” Her dress shatters into light fragments, leaving her in her other clothes and she passes out in Rute’s arms. Although he catches her, he wasn’t prepared for her to fall over and she takes him to the ground with him. He scratches the back of his head as he sits up and he looks at her sleeping face. _‘We’ve been through a lot today.’_ He thinks to himself. _‘She deserves some rest.’_ He reaches down and pick her up bridal style and carries her away from the outlook.

* * *

 

As soon as he leaves the outlook, the commander of the squadron of girl flies over the area and lands next to an unconscious Yuki. She looks over her body and is surprised by the lack of injuries on her body. _‘What’s going on?’_ She thinks to herself. _‘The sounds coming from her microphone meant she was in a fight earlier. How is she not injured?_ ’ She doesn’t go into the details however and picks up Yuki in her arms and flies away. “Renatan, when you wake up you have a lot of explaining to do.” The commander says to her sleeping form.

* * *

 

Although it might look bad to someone else, it was late at night and most people weren’t out at the time. So Rute carrying Luna in his arms was seen as an issue to what little people he passed on his way home. He soon reaches his house and he opens the door to Myra who was sleeping on the table. He arms were crossed in front of her and she had the house landline sitting in front of her. Rute sees the landline and looks at his own cell phone to see a long list of missed calls from Myra and Arata, both of them sending panicked texts and voice messages asking where he was. Rute sees her phone and he suddenly realized that he ignored his phone the entire day. “Oh shoot. Sorry to make you worry Myra.” He says quietly and he carefully takes the sleeping Luna upstairs.

He takes her into his room and sets her on his bed, tucking her in moves to the closet to get his sleeping bag out. _‘Let her have the bed. She probably needs it more than me.’_  He set up his small bed and the moment his head hits the pillow, he falls into a deep sleep. Outside his house, Shepard appears on top the adjacent house outside the Osaku household and looks through the window at the sleeping Rute and Luna. “I have to say, I never thought I’d see the day that two spirits wouldn’t be fighting each other.” She says to herself. “This new era of spirits is turning out to be something of an anomaly in the timestream.” She looks out into the night sky and sees a shooting star fly across the sky. “I’m excited to see where this anomaly takes us.” She throws her cloak in front of her and vanishes into the shadows.


	9. The Next Stage

A mysterious figure walks forwards toward Rute, twirling a gun in its left hand. The figure had black slacks with silver outlines at the pockets and black leather boots. It was shirtless except for a black arm warmer on his right arm. It wore black belts with studded with silver holes on both his wrists and his waist with the latter having a silver gun holster on its right. It wore a black cowboy like hat that was bent down over the figures head so the rim shadowed its face except for a single green eye.

Rute feels a sense of foreboding coming from the boy, and he raises his left hand in fear, “Barakiel now!” At his command, blue lightning came down on his hand and in a flash, the steel blue longsword appeared in his hand again. Rute pointed it out to the figure and it stopped walking, catching the gun in its grip. “Who are you?” Rute calls out to the figure and he heard a low chuckling coming from it. The figure pointed its gun at Rute and he could see a single green eye glowing from under the figure’s hat. The gun was a polished silver revolver with black vine-like marking around the barrel. It had a studded diamond dice pattern along the grip and a black pointed blade curved on top. The figure pushes out the cylinder of the gun and spins it with his other hand, the metal whirring sound filling the area. Flicking its wrist and snapping the cylinder back into place, the figure points its gun at Rute again and fires a single shot with a burst of light.

Rute raises Barakiel to deflect the bullet when he feels the bullet impact the sword in the guard. The sword starts to vibrate uncontrollably, making Rute drop the weapon out of reflex and it shatters when it hits the ground. Rute looks down at the shards of his sword in disbelief and the figure cackles and spins its gun again. Rute is overcome with fear and watches as the figure clicks its gun again and points it at him. It snaps its fingers and fires a golden bolt of light from the gun that pierces through his chest. A burning sensation wracks his entire body making him fall to the ground screaming in pain. Rute looks up and the figure stands over him with its boot raised over its head, smiling down at Rute with wild eyes. “Weak.” It says simply as it brings its boot down on Rute’s face, crushing his skull.

* * *

 

Rute suddenly wakes up in bed, breathing heavily from what he just witnessed. He sits up and looks around and he finds himself on the floor next to his bed in his room. ‘Why am I on the floor?’ He wonders when he feels something holding on to his left arm. He looks down and his eyes widen when they see Luna clutching his left arm in her sleep. “L-L-Luna?!” Rute loudly whispers in surprise and he looks to over at his bed to see the covers folded in a way that they spill over the side onto his sleeping bag. ‘Did she roll over in her sleep?’ He wonders as Luna tightens her grip on his arm. He tries to move his arm away from her, but her grip is too strong for him to get out off. “Don’t goooo!” She mumbles in her sleep and suddenly reaches out with her other hand and pushes Rute down.

She moves and straddles him and pushes his shoulders down with her arms, her hair spilling over her back. “Luna? What are you doing?” The boy asks as he looks up at her half-lidded expression and a slight frown forms on her face. “Ruuuute...” She breaths lazily and slowly bends down closer to him, their foreheads touching gently. ”Don’t leave me okay?” Rute feels her breath against his face and he feels it start heating up at her closeness. “Y-Yeah, I won’t leave you okay.” Luna smiles in her sleep and slowly leans down even lower, making Rute close his eyes out of reflex.

Suddenly, Rute hears his bedroom door suddenly burst open and he opens his eyes as Luna leans back away from him. A voice calls out to Rute and he pales when he hears and recognizes it. “What's going on!? Who’s in here?!” Someone calls out threateningly and Rute sees Myra run into the room with a kitchen knife in her hand. She looks around the room frantically and when she looks down and sees her big brother being straddled by a dark-haired girl, her anger turns into embarrassment. “Wha-Wha-Wha?!” She stutters, dumbfounded and Rute quickly sits up, making Luna slide off and put up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Wait, Myra! This isn’t what it looks like!” Myra stares down her brother, cracking her knuckles evilly. “Oh? Then tell me brother, what is this?” She asks menacingly, gesturing to the situation in front of her.

Rute is about to say something when Luna reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down closer to her. “Ruuu… Ah… Ah?” She suddenly wakes up and when she sees how close she is to Rute’s face, she jumps back onto the bed. “W-What’s going on?! Why am I in your bed?!” She exclaims and Myra’s rage is directed to her. “That’s what I want to find out?! Who are you and why are you in bed with my brother!?” Luna starts to shake when Myra takes a step towards her and she back away slowly, her eyes not leaving the knife. “Stay away!” She nervously whispers, but Myra keeps moving forward. Luna closes her eyes in fear and she falls back onto the bed in fear, but she suddenly feels something move onto the bed in front of her. “Myra that's enough! Calm down!”

Luna slowly opens her eyes and sees Rute sitting in front of her with his arms out protectively. “She went through a lot yesterday. I brought her here because she had nowhere else to go.” Luna has a flashback of her fight against the armored girls and her fight against Rute with his sword. When she remembers his sword, she subtly moves away from Rute.  _ ‘What if he’s mad about what happened?’ _ She wonders fearfully. Myra looks from Rute to Luna and when she sees her panicked expression, she looks at Rute with a betrayed expression. “You’re worried about her?” She asks softly as she drops her knife to the ground. “What about me?!” Rute looks as his sister puts her hands over her face as she starts crying and falls to her knees. “I was so worried about you!? You didn’t answer your phone the other day, no matter how much I called you!? I was so scared that something bad had happened to you!?” Rute slides off the bed and hugs his sister, who cries harder and pushes her face into her brother’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Myra. I-I won’t worry you like that again.” She shakes in his arms and he gently rubs her back to console her, carrying back up at the same time.

Rute looks at his friend and smiles warmly. “You’re OK right?” She nods and Rute steps off the bed and moves to his closet. “Well, I have classes today, so I can take you somewhere else later.” He opens his closet and looks through his clothes. “Sound good to you?” Luna looks away and her expression saddens when she remembers the events of the other day, her heart clenching in regret. “Don’t go...” She mumbles to herself. Rute looks back at her and she looks up at him. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. I just want you to stay with me.” Rute feels a blush creep onto his face and turns away from her, scratching the back of his head. “I… I can’t miss school.” He says and turns back to her with an uneasy expression. “I can come back here during breaks, but I can’t skip without a good reason. Staying with someone isn’t a valid reason I can use.”

Luna looks disheartened until Myra coughs to clear her throat, getting the attention of the two teens. “Big Bro, I can stay with your friend for the day. The recent spacequake made my school decide to suspend classes until they think it's safe again.” Rute looks at his sister and nods his head. “Alright then, Luna are you okay with that?” Said girl looks at Myra hesitantly but nods her head anyway. Rute looks at the two girls and moves to open the rest of the door, revealing his sister to his friend. “Before I forget, Myra this is Luna, I met her yesterday during the spacequake. Luna this is Myra, my younger sister.” Myra awkwardly waves at the other girl and Luna hesitantly waves back.

* * *

 

Rute stands at the stove with a dark blue apron over his school uniform, cooking breakfast for his sister and Luna. The two girls sit at the table behind him, nervously looking at each other. Myra twiddles her fingers as she watches the news on the TV while Luna uncomfortably fidgets in her chair. Rute turns around when he finishes the food and carries the plates to the table, looking around the table to the two girls with a raised eyebrow. “What’s going on?” He asks, confused but Myra smiles and waves him off. “Nothing it's fine!” She says cheerfully, making Rute nod questionably but he says nothing and sits down to eat.

The meal is eaten in silence, with only the news channel blaring in the background.  **[In other news, a mysterious string of murders has been occurring around the city.]** The three looks at the TV and Mura turns up the volume,  **[The victims were all killed by a gunshot, however, the police have found no bullets or evidence that could point the finger at anyone. Authorities ask us to remain vigilant and alert them if any evidence could be found.]** Behind Rute and Luna, Myra has a scowl on her face from the news. Luna briefly looks back at her, but she puts on an innocent smile before she can say anything. The dark-haired girl says nothing but under the table, she clenches her jogging pants nervously.

Rute looks down at his watch and quickly gets up and stuff some food in his mouth. “Sorry guys, I got to go.” He runs to the door and slips on his shoes before turning back and looking at the girl. “Luna, I’ll be back later. Myra watch over her okay?” His sister winks and gives her brother a thumbs up. “Don’t worry big bro! We’ll be okay!” Rute nods and walks out of the house.

As soon as the door closes Luna gets up from the table and quickly walks up the stairs. ‘I-I have to stay away from her.’ She thinks fearfully. She makes it to the top of the stairs when someone grabs on to her arms and she looks back to see a glaring Myra looking up at here. The younger girl holds onto Luna with surprising strength and drags her into Rute’s room. She throws her onto the floor and Luna looks up at her as Myra cracks her fingers. “Now, let's get down to business.”

* * *

 

Unaware of the events happening back at his house, Rute goes to his school for the second day. When he reaches the gates, he is surrounded by Arata and Mia’s group. “RUTE YOU'RE OK!?” The groups both yell surprised when they see him. Rute pushes the two groups away with his hands and looks at his friends with a confused expression. “What are you guys talking about? You saw me yesterday?” Arata grabs him by the collar and shakes him furiously. “You ran away during the spacequake! You didn’t answer your phone afterward! What were we supposed to think!?” Rute’s eyes widen when he realizes he ignored his phone the entire day yesterday and when he looks at Mia’s group, he can see some tears in the eyes of the girls. “We-We hand to comfort Myra yesterday.” Mia stuttered. “She was in tears the whole day without you.” Rute clenches his hand and looks down in shame. “I know. She told me earlier, thanks for watching her when I was gone.”

Arata lets go of Rute and steps back with his arms crossed. “So where were you the other day?” He asks with a raised eyebrow. Rute scratches the back of his head and looks away sheepishly. “Well… I… Uh-” The morning bell suddenly rings and Rute immediately walks forward into the school. “Hey what do you know!? Class is starting!” He pushes past the group and walks into the school. “C’mon guys, we don’t want to be late!” Arata and Mia look at each other with a nervous expression, but the silently agree to ask Rute later and follow him into the school.

Rute looks out the window of his classroom and spins his pen in his hands as he waits for his teacher. His gaze trails off to the distance near his house and his thought turned to Luna. ‘I wonder how she’s doing?’ He thinks as the teacher walks in and the class stands up to greet her. “Thank you all for coming.”  The teacher, Ms. Haruna says as she addresses the class. “I know the recent spacequake might have some of you on edge, especially since it was larger than usual, but I can assure you that the school is well protected in case an event like that were to happen again.”

“While we're on the topic of spacequakes, Mr. Osaku.” She says as everyone turns to look at the aforementioned boy. “While we are very fortunate that you are unhurt, please try to avoid running off during the spacequake alarm again. The class was very distressed at your disappearance.” Rute looks around the class and he can see everyone's nervous expression when they look at him, especially Arata. Rute stands up and bows to the class and his teacher. “I apologize, Ms. Haruna,” he says and he looks up at his classmates. “And to you guys too. I might not know you guys that well, but I won’t make you guys worry about me like that again.” Rute sees most of the others nod in approval and he sits back down, a little more at ease.

Ms. Haruna claps to get the class attention and she looks down at the clipboard in her hands. “In other news, we have a new student joining us today.” She turns to the door and the class follows her view. “You can come in now.” Someone slides the door open and a boy walks in with his hands in his pockets. He was slightly slouched over and he eyes the room with disinterest. He had light gray hair that draped over his green eyes, which were dull and without life. He picks up a piece of chalk and quickly writes his name on the board and when he finishes, he leans back against the blackboard and stares into space. “I’m Ateo Fatima. Take care of me here, I guess.” A feeling of uneasiness is set in the classroom, but Rute looks at the new kid with slightly wide eyes. When Ateo looks at Rute in the eye, the blue-eyed boy subtly clenches his fists. The figure with the gun appears next to Ateo and they both stare at him with glowing green eyes.

Ms. Haruna looks around the classroom and points to the chair next to Rute, “Mr. Fatima, you can sit next to Mr. Osaku. Since Ms. Renatan is apparently absent, you can use her chair until we get more. The gray-haired boy nods his head and he moves to the chair next Rute. When he sits down, Rute strains to resist the urge to move as far away from the boy as possible, and it only strengthens the Ateo turns to him and extends his hand. “Let's get along, yeah?” He says innocently, and Rute looks down at the other boy’s hands with dread. Swallowing is fear, Rute shook the boy’s hand and put on the best smile he could. “Yes, let’s hope we do.”


	10. Hiding

Rute couldn’t focus throughout the entire lesson of Ms. Haruna. Every hair on the back of neck was standing as he tried not to pay attention to Ateo. Rute stole glances at the boy and when their eyes occasionally met, he turned away immediately.  _ ‘Just calm down. It's fine he’s not here to hurt you.’  _ Rute tries to reassure himself. However, when he feels something places on his shoulder, the boy turns to the side quickly, clenching his fists in the process.

Arata quickly takes his hand off his friend at his violent reaction and look at Rite worriedly. “Whoa hey. What’s going on you okay?” He asks concerningly. Rute exhales a long breath and bends down over his desk. “Yeah I’m good. Let’s just finish Ms. Haruna’s lesson.” Arata raises an eyebrow at Rute and points at the clock behind them. “Rute its lunch now. Ms. Haruna’s class was over hours ago.”

Rute looks up at his friend surprised and turns around to look at the clock, which read a little over twelve noon. “How long was I out of it?!” Rute wonders softly when someone comes up and taps his desk and he looks up to see Ateo staring back down with a dead expression. “Meet me at the school roof in five minutes. I got something to talk to you about.” With that, the gray-haired boy walked away leaving Rute and Arata to themselves. “What’s up with him?” Arata asks Rute, who abruptly stands up and walks out of the room after Ateo. Mia goes up to Arata and points to Rute with the thumbs as he closes the door behind him. “What’s going on with Rute?” She asks the boy and he shrugs his shoulders. “At this point, I don’t even know anymore.”

* * *

 

Rute walks up the stairs of his school going to the roof. His hands nervously fidget in his pockets as he pushes through a door and is blown back as a gust of wind rushes at his face. He walks out into the roof of the school and looks around until he sees Ateo looking over the edge into the city. The door closes behind Rute and the gray-haired boy turns around at the noise, smiling when he sees the other boy. “Hey there.” Ateo says to him and Rute slips his hands out of his pockets.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you up here.” Ateo says to the other boy as he reaches for the back of his shirt. “It's simple really.” Suddenly, there is a flash of silver and a loud bang is heard as something whizzes past Rute’s ear. Rute looks up in horror and sees Ateo with glowing green eyes and the silver gun from his dream in his hands being pointed at him. “I came to give you a warning, Spirit of Blue.” Rute takes a step back in fear but Ateo pulls the hammer back on his gun, the click stopping Rute. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Ateo chuckles to himself. “Maramoth and I make it a point to cover our tracks. I have no problems with putting a spirit like you down.”

Rute feels lightning start to crackle in his hand and he moves to that it his hidden behind him. “You’re a spirit too right? Are you really OK with killing your own kind?” He asks with a raised eyebrow. Ateo smiles and lets his gun drop from his grip, holding it up with his finger behind the trigger. “It's not like you’re the first person I’ve killed. Haven't you heard the news lately?” Rute pales when he remembers the news cast from this morning.  _ ‘In other news, a mysterious string of murders has been occurring around the city.’  _ Fear wells up in Rute as he looks at his new classmate in a different light. “You… You’re a murderer.” Ateo shrugs his shoulders and gestures to the city behind him. “I prefer to think I’m more of an Anti-hero. Think about it, what's the one thing the world hasn’t been able to solve?” Rute opens his mouth to answer but Ateo keeps ranting on. “It’s corruption. What good is protection if it can be bought by others? What good is unity if those is power are constantly dividing themselves? Can we honestly say that we are stronger together?” Rute takes a moment to absorb what the other boy is saying, and he grits his teeth when he realizes that he might be right. “See what I mean?” Ateo ask Rute as he puts his gun away and slowly walks forward towards the boy. “The world is corrupted and only those with power can change it. And who better to do that than those with the power to reshape reality.”

Rute suddenly clenches his fists and sends out a blue shockwave that pushes Ateo back. The silver-haired boy reaches for his gun and points it at Rute, who glows as lightning strikes and crackles around him. He looks up at Ateo with glowing blue eyes but when he looks at his hands, he takes a deep breath to calm himself down and the lightning loses most of its intensity. “Just because we have the power, doesn’t mean we should do what we want with it.” Rute takes another breath and the lightning completely fizzles out and when he looks at the other boy again, his eyes are back to normal. “For the people you’ve killed and for the other spirits like us.” Ateo sees the determination and fire in the other boy’s eyes. “I  **will** stop you for hurting anyone else.”

The grey-haired outlaw smiles and starts to snicker before doubling over in laughter. Through the whole act, Rute stands quietly and waits for an opening to attack or escape. “Now this is what I’m talking about!” Ateo shouts with joy and when he looks up at Rute again, he spins his gun in his hand. “Alright then, try and stop me. See if you have the power to make me change my mind.” He catches his gun and fires a single bullet at the ground in front of Rute. “But for now, just focus on reaching my level.” A sinkhole suddenly opens up under Rute and he falls to the floor below. Ateo shoots the ground again and the sinkhole closes itself back up, showing no signs of it breaking. The boy smirks and looks to the city while putting his gun back into his jacket. “Well, is this what you expected to happen? Huh, Shepard?” He says into the distance.

* * *

 

Something pushes against Rute’s arm and his eyes slowly open up and he only sees the plain white ceiling of the school.  _ ‘How did? Oh right, Ateo.’ _ Rute thinks disdainfully and he sits up to look around the room. The various test tubes and cabinets meant he was in the science lab, but what surprised him was a familiar indigo-haired girl sitting down next to him. When he sees her, Rute springs to his feet and backs away from her. “What the?! Renatan why are you here?!” When Rute gets back up, Yuki feels tears well up in her eyes and puts her hands over her mouth. “R-Ru-Rute? —Is that y-you?” She stutters out, and before Rute can answer she reaches out and tackles to him to the ground.

Rute struggles against the girl, trying to break free from her grasp. “Hey Renatan! Let go of me!” He suddenly stops when he feels something wet his shoulder and he stops struggling and feels Yuki bury her face into his shoulder and start crying. “You’re alive… You’re actually alive!” Yuki says in between sobs. Being pressed down on the ground, Rute didn’t know what to do with his arms, but after seeing Yuki’s pain he slowly wraps his arms around her and hugs her softly. “Hey calm down. It’s OK. I’m right here.” Rute whispers in her ear and Yuki’s sobs start to lighten up. “After yesterday, when you fell to the ground, I thought… I thought!” Yuki tightens the hug while Rute looks to the side and contemplates the day before. “I’ll be honest, I don't really know what happened yesterday.” He lies to Yuki, leaving out the parts about him as a spirit. “I just remember my chest suddenly hurting and falling to the ground.” He feels Yuki suddenly freeze up and he sits up to look her in the eye. “Wait do you know what happened?”

Yuki flinches from the question, but tells Rute what happened and what she did. When she finishes, Rute’s eyes widen and his mouth quivers from the shock. He breathes a single word and blue lightning starts to flicker violently in his hand.

* * *

 

Back at the Osaku house, Luna looks up at Myra as the younger girl stands above her and cracks her fingers menacingly. “Now, let's get down to business.” She bends down and looks at Luna straight in the eye. “Who are you? And how did you meet my brother?” Luna shakes under the girl’s gaze. Despite her height, there was a dark suppressive aura around her that Luna didn’t expect. “I-I met him after he saved me from bad people.” Myra raised her eyebrow at her claim and crosses her arms. “Bad people huh? They wouldn’t happen to have weapons and armor and jetpacks, did they?” Luna’s eyes widen and she looks at Myra in shock. “That's what I thought.” Myra smiled and extended her hand down to her. Luna eyes the hand in fear and swipes her hands away. “No stop!” Her hand suddenly flashes with white light and Myra closed her eyes and blocked the light with her hand. “Wha-What!?” Myra turns away from the light and Luna takes the opportunity to run away down the stairs.

“Hey get back here!” Myra shouts after her, but Luna runs to the front door anyway. Luna turns the handle of the door and tries to pull the door open, but a sudden gust of wind slams it back shut. Luna hears a faint whistling sound behind her and turns around to find Myra on the stairs with one hand and her other hand outstretched towards the door. Luna steps back out of fear when she sees the other girl’s eyes glowing green and a swirl of wind in around her outstretched hand. “Sorry about this.” Myra says coldly. “But I can’t let you leave yet, Miss Spirit of White.”

Luna’s eyes widen and she manifests Qaspiel in her hands and holds out the blade towards the other girl. “H-How do you know who I am?!” She asks nervously. Myra lowers her hand and walks towards Luna slowly, unfazed by the scythe. “I know all about who you are, Spirit. How we were created and who created us. The real question is, why were we created?” Luna slowly lowers her scythe as she hears the girl talk. “ _ We?  _ Does that mean you’re-” Before she can continue, Myra’s pocket rings and she pull out her phone and looks at the caller I.D. “Really? Now of all times?” She mutters annoyed and lets out a long breath as she declines the call and hits other buttons on her phone. “Look, I’ll answer your questions later. Right now, we have to go.”

Luna raises her eyebrow, confused when Myra aims her phone screen at her. A bright blue light engulfs her and she suddenly vanishes into thin air. Myra aims her phone back at her and the light engulfs her too, leaving the house empty.

* * *

Falling down on the ground, Luna shakes her head from the impact and looks around a seemingly dark room. “Where am I?” She whispers to herself and slowly gets up from the floor. Suddenly large white light shines in her face and she raises her arms to shade her eyes. Shadows of human like figure stand with their backs turned to the lights, seemingly eyeing her from a distance.

Luna scoffs and summons her scythe, pointing the blade at the people with one hand. “Who are you people?! What are you doing to me?!” As soon as she says that, the lights turn off and the figures turn into some well-dressed men and women looking gown at her. “What?” Luna breathes in shock when the two adults in the middle move to the side. Walking in from of both of them wearing a dark black jacket over her clothes was Myra and the stands confidently with a smug smile on her face. “Well, Miss Spirit of White. Welcome to the Hraesvelgr.”


	11. Coming Down

“To be honest, I don't really know what happened yesterday.” Rute lies to Yuki, leaving out the parts about him as a spirit. “I just remember my chest suddenly hurting and falling to the ground.” He feels Yuki suddenly freeze up and he sits up to look her in the eye. “Wait do you know what happened?” She flinches from the question but starts mumbling to herself. “You were shot. The Spirit got angry and moved to attack me after you fell to the ground in front of her.” Rute’s eyes widen in shock, feeling small sparks of lightning start to form in his hand. “Why would she do that?” He asks Yuki, and she flinches and starts shaking in fear. “It’s because… I-I…” She says something to Rute and it makes his eyes darken as he clenches his fist. Lightning surrounds his hands and crackles violently. The energy suddenly bursts out, creating a small shockwave that throws Yuki to the other side of the room. She hits the ground at the same time as all lights in the building shut off, leaving only the sunlight outside to light up the room. Yuki slowly gets up from the ground and sees Rute looking down at her, the lighting crackling around his blank stare saying all it needed to. “Why?” He asked with a cold voice, anger coursing through him. ”Why did you do it?” ”I wasn't aiming at you! I was aiming at the Spirit I swear!” She retorts as she gets back to her feet. Another lightning bolt strikes a table next to her, making her recoil away. “Again, why did you take the shot?” Rute asks her coldly and her eyes widen in shock. “You’re asking about her?” She says with a surprised voice. “You’re asking about her?! A Spirit?! What about yourself?! Do you even care for your own safety?!”

“She didn’t do anything to me!” Rute shouted back, taking the girl by surprise. “I took her out. We had fun together. She was smiling, she was happy until you showed up and ruined everything!” The girls face hardened as she shouted back. “You don't know the Spirits like I do! You don’t know what they’ve done to people!” “Maybe I don’t, but at least I stopped to listen to them instead of actively trying to shoot them down!” Rute shouted back, making the girl flinch back. “Have you ever tried to reason with them? They don’t want to hurt people and they never wanted these powers.” He looks down at his hand, watching the lightning spark in his palm. “I still don’t understand your reasons for fighting them, and maybe I’ll never know.” He clenches his fist and looks up at Yuki, his eyes glowing brighter.

Above them, a familiar alarm starts ringing and Rute can hear people running to the lower floors. “The spacequake alarm?” He says as he looks out the windows for any sign. “Why is it going off now?” Yuki feels her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulls it out and sees a line of white text on her screen. “It's too late now.” She mumbles, sighing as she puts away her phone and pulls out a white and black card. “I suggest you get out of here, Mr. Osaku. The AST is almost here and I don’t think they’ll let you leave once they arrive.” She gestures to the window of the room and Rute follows her hand, seeing five small black figures in the distance coming closer to the school.

Rute grits his teeth and is about to run out the door when he looks back at Yuki. “Why are you letting me leave?” He asks her with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you hated the Spirits? Why aren’t we fighting each other yet?” Yuki looks at Rute and sees the silver-haired spirit in his place, her crying face showing nothing but anguish. She closes her eyes and shakes her head and the image fades away. “That Spirit you were with; you called her Luna.” She opens her eyes and looks back at Rute “I hope you realize that you mean a lot more to her than you think.” Rute feels some heat from embarrassment climb on his neck as Yuki continues. “I’m going let you go this time and I’m showing you some mercy just for her. I won’t attack you when we have classes or if we see each other outside of school.” Her eyes hardened and her voice suddenly gets low and serious. “But make no mistake, we aren't on the same side anymore. If I see you with anymore Spirits, or if the AST comes for you, then I’m not going to be on your side.” Rute nods his head and walks to the door and puts his hand on the handle. “Just so you know.” He says as he opens the door. “I never wanted it to end up this way. I honestly thought the two of us could have been friends.”

He closes the door behind him and Yuki puts the card back into her pocket. “I thought so too.” Her phone vibrates again and she picks it up and brings it to her ear. **[Renatan! Where are you?! The Spirit vanished from the scanner! Do you have a visual?!]** Yuki looked at the door and shook her head. “Negative. The Spirit isn’t within the building anymore.” She hears her commander curse on the other side if the line before ending the call. She puts her phone away when she sees a bright green flash from the hallway. She runs out of the room to see Rute standing in the middle of the hallway with a strange green ray of light surrounding him. He punches the wall of light, his fists sparking against it and turns to Yuki in fear. “Renatan! What is this?! What’s go-” Rute is about to say something else when his form is suddenly sucked up by the light and it vanishes in front of Yuki. “What… What was that?!” She shouted in shock.

* * *

 

“-ing on?!” Rute finishes and reappears on a metal platform in a pitch-black room. He hears the shuffling of footsteps around him and he holds his hand up, lightning sparking in between his fingertips. The sparks light up the room and he briefly sees a familiar flash of lilac hair in front of him. “Myra? Is that you?” He hears nervous laughter and beings his arm over his eyes as the overhead lights come back on. The glare from the light fades from his eyes and he looks around to see some sort of cockpit with a stand in the middle for a commander and four other seats on either side of the room. Myra smiles and scratches her cheek sheepishly at her brother with a group of adults in suits sitting in the other four seats behind her looking up at her. "Hey... Big Bro. How are you doing?" Rute raises an eyebrow at his sister. "I should be asking that question. Shouldn't you be at school?" Myra looks to the side. “Well, I…”

“What’s school?” A familiar voice asks and Rute turns around to see Luna leaning against the wall looking up at the sibling. She gives a small wave to the two and Rute’s eyes immediately his powers and the lighting surrounding him vanishes. “Luna! You’re here too?!” Rute says in shock looking back at his sister. “Myra, what going on? Why is Luna here? What is this place?” Myra holds her arms to the side in a triumphant manner and gestures to the rest of the room they were in. “Well, this is the Hraesvelgr one of the many airships for Ratatoskr, an organization that protects the Spirits.” Rute opens mouth, but Myra continues before he can say anything. “The Spirits are people who have supernatural powers. They aren’t part of this world, that's why they always cause spacequakes whenever they appear.” With that being said, Rute looks down at Luna, remembering how they first met in the crater.  _ ‘So that's why she was there.’ _ He thinks to himself.

Myra sees her brother looking down at Luna and motions to one of the men in the seats. “Bring it up.” She says to him and an image of a strange tree with white lines connecting ten circles appears on the monitor. Starting from the top was the color white, followed by grey, black, blue, yellow and red. Near the bottom of the image were the colors orange, indigo, and green with a purple sphere hanging at the very bottom. “This is known as the Tree of Life. According to our findings, each of the spirits corresponds to one of the circles on this tree.” As soon as she says this, all of the symbols light up on the monitor, with the green, blue, and black circles being the brightest. “This image helps us locate the spirits though it only works after a spacequake occurs. Considering how it's reacting now; I’d say that you two are the Blue and Black Spirits.” Rute looks at his sister confused. “But the green light is also glowing. Shouldn’t that mean that the Green spirit is-” Myra looks at her older brother and her eyes start to glowing green and she holds up her hand as a small sphere of wind starts to form in her palm. “Spirit of Green, the spirit of the wind right here.” Rute’s eyes widen and Myra closes her hand and the wind stops flowing. “The AST or those people that went after Luna have different code names for the spirits. According to their records, my codename is [Sylph] and Luna’s is [Nightbloom].” She says as she gestures down to the said girl. “They haven’t made a code name you yet Bro, but I think calling you [Force] will be enough for now.”

Rute looks at his sister with a questioning look. "So, is that the only reason why I'm here? Because I'm a Spirit?" Myra gives her brother a deadpan stare and raises her eyebrow. “Wow, I never knew you to be this serious Bro.” She says sarcastically and nods to a man in the seat again and after a moment another image appears in the screen. The new image shows the outline of a boy and a girl with some sort of flow from the girl into the boy. “So apparently, you as a spirit has a special ability to seal away the powers of other spirits. We have no idea how you have this power, nor do I we have an idea of how you use this power. All we can say is that it's somehow related to your relationship to the other spirits.” The image changes and the energy almost completely leave the girl and enters the boy, the image of a swirl in the center of the boy image. “This is sort of how your sealing power works. The transfer of energy is the only part of this process that we can’t understand, but theoretically, if this works, we can remove the threat of spirits to others.” Rute watches the video intently when he suddenly turns to his sister while pointing at the screen. “Hang on… How did you find this out? I’ve only been a spirit for a day?” Myra gestures to Luna. “Take a look at this.” She says as the screen changes again to show Luna on the screen along with a chart that showed a steep drop in level near the end. “These are the spirit levels of Luna which until recently, were very high. The levels only dropped yesterday, the same day that she apparently met you.” Rute's eyes shift from Luna to Myra in shock. "You see what this means right?" She stands up and does a triumphant pose by pointing to Rute dramatically. "Big Bro, you are now the latest addition to Ratatoskr. The Spirit sealing Spirit!"


	12. Moment of Peace

Rute wakes up in his bed, this time without someone else trying to wake him up. He rubs his eyes and looks around his room, and sighs when he sees nothing out of place.  _ ‘If I didn’t know any better I’d think this was a normal day’ _ He gets out of bed and drags his clothes into the bathroom with him. He changes out of his pajamas and wraps a towel around his waist and slides the door for his shower open. It takes him a few seconds for his eyes to come focus when he sees a girl standing in the shower already with soap in her hair. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Luna screams in surprise and covers herself with her one of her arms while holding up the other where a silver light started to surround her hand.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Rute says while holding up his hands in front of him in defense. “Get out of here!” Luna shouts at him and Rute quickly shuts the door and turns around. “Wait, Luna! Why are you in my house?! I know I brought you here after what happened at the outlook but-” Luna lowers her other arm and covers the rest of her body. “What are you talking about?!” She shouts back, “Your sister said I could stay here!”

* * *

 

Myra sits on a couch, sipping on coffee when she suddenly hears shouting from upstairs. She nearly drops her drink when she hears footsteps coming closer and Rute busts through the door wearing nothing but a towel. “Myra, what's going on? And why is Luna here?” She turns around and puts on a fake smile for her older brother. “Oh hey, Big Bro! Good morning!” “Don’t change the subject!” He angrily yells back. “I thought Ratatoskr was going to provide their own place for the Spirits?”

“It takes time to build a house from scratch. At best the house should be finished by tomorrow.” A voice lazily speaks up. From the kitchen, a middle-aged man with short messy platinum hair and light blue eyes wearing an oversized lab coat over a dark purple shirt, gray jogging pants and flip-flops pours coffee into a white mug. “Oh, pardon my intrusion. My name is Aichi Hatsukaze.” He gets the sugar cup and proceeds to put cube after cube into his coffee. “I work for Ratatoskr as an… advisor for your sister. I’m basically responsible for making sure she doesn’t go wild as a commander.” Rute looks confused at the strange man when Myra turns on the couch and lazily points at Aichi. “Kaze-kun over there has been watching over me when you aren’t. He’s more like a parent than an advisor.” Rute looks at Aichi and bows his head toward him, getting the attention of Myra. “I apologize for my sister’s crazy behavior and any antic you may have been involved in.” Aichi sips his coffee and waves him off with his coat sleeve while Myra jumps up from the couch and runs at her brother, knocking him over and weakly pounds him with her fists. “Don’t make me sound like a child!” She says angrily, punctuating her sentence with her fists. Rute puts his arms up to defend himself from his sister’s weak attacks.

“Hey Rute what's going on?” Myra stops hitting Rute and he lowers arms to see Luna walking down the stairs wearing a uniform similar to the one Rute wore. Rute takes one look at the uniform and turns to Myra. “Why is she-?” A smug grin forms on his sister’s face when Aichi speaks up. “Well since the two of you are a part if Ratatoskr now, we decided to enroll Luna here into the same school as you. It’ll make it easier for you to watch over her.” Myra gets off of her and slowly backs away with a sinister laugh. “She’s your responsibility now. Take care of her.~” She says mockingly, and Rute sights and covers his eyes while shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Myra crosses her arms with a ‘humph’ and walks back into the kitchen. Rute feels something pulling his arm and moves his hand away to reveal Luna holding on to his arm with a bright blush on her face. “Um... Rute, does this look alright.” She pulls at her uniform with her other hand and his face turns as red as her’s. “Y-Yeah, it looks great on you.” Her face turns even redder and she turns away, with her hands on her cheeks. “It’s good that you think that,” Myra shouts from the kitchen. “She’s going to be your classmate too!” Rute’s face suddenly goes blank and he looks back into the kitchen with wide eyes. “She’s what?!”

* * *

 

Later that day, Rute sits in his classroom with his head resting in his hand everyone watches as an excited Luna writes her name on the board of the classroom before spinning around. “Hi everyone! My name is Luna Astero. I hope you all take care of me!” She bows at the end of her speech and most of the class, mostly the boys, get up from their seats cheers in joy. Rute sees Ateo turn around and give watches a smirk form on his face before Ms. Haruna claps her hands and makes a ‘calm down’ motion with her hands and lets the class settle before speaking. “Aside from our new student, we also have a new assistant teacher to help with the class.” She gestures to the man standing next to her, who yawns and rubs his eye before speaking. “Oh-wha? Yeah, I’m Aichi Hatsukaze…  _ *yawn* _ Let’s have a good year together.” He lazily raises his fist in celebration and everyone else half-heartedly raises their fists as well, looking at each other with confused expressions.

Ms. Haruna sweat drops and clears her throat, making everyone settle down. “A-anyway Mr. Hatsukaze will be with us for the rest of the year so I hope you all treat him with respect.” She looks down at a clipboard on her desk and runs her finger down the paper. “Ms. Astero, you can sit in the back of the class, behind Mr. Osaku.” At the mention of Rute’s name, her face lights up and she runs to where he was sitting and smiles sweetly. “Hey Rute, check it out! We’re in the same class!” As exclaims joyfully. Rute smiles back at the girl before he feels a wave of malice wash over him and his eyes meet the rest of his male classmates who are giving him death glares. Luna looks around the room, oblivious to the stares and turns back to Rute. “Rute is something wrong? Why are they looking at you like that?” He waves his hand and chuckles. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” “OK then!” She says in reply and takes her seat behind Rute, smiling at him from behind.

Ms. Haruna looks through her notes and clicks her teeth. “Ms. Renatan is absent again… We already have a new seat for Mr. Fatima but still…” As soon as she says this, the classroom door bursts open and everyone watches as Yuki stumbled into the room, her hair and clothes crumpled and messy. “I  _ *huff* _ made  _ *huff* _ it.” She breathes before collapsing, but Aichi moves with surprising speed and catches her before she hits the floor. Rute and a bunch of his classmates stand up from their seats, murmuring to themselves in shock. Rute runs over to Yuki and lightly shakes her shoulders. “Renatan! What happened to you?!” “I  _ *huff* _ may have forgotten  _ *huff* _ to eat breakfast before  _ *huff* _ rushing here.” Aichi and Rute help her stand up and Aichi looks at Ms. Haruna. “I’ll take her to the nurse Ma’am. Mr. Osaku will accompany me.” The teacher nods her head and Aichi and Rute slowly make their way out of the room. From behind, Luna watches Rute leave while clutching her chest her expression saddens then he closes the door behind him and sits down with a somber smile on her face.

* * *

 

“Good thing you brought her here so quickly, she’s severely dehydrated and lacks a lot sleep. I can give her some food to get her strength back up but she should still rest for a while.” The nurse says to Aichi and Rute. The three of them stand over a bedridden Yuki who has a damp cloth on her forehead in a curtain covered room. Aichi sighs and scratches the back of his head. “Well, at least she can come back to class.” He says before trudging out of the room. Rute and the nurse sweat drop when Aichi waves his hand in a ‘come on’ gesture. “Mr. Osaku if you would. You have to return to class.” Rute nods his head and looks at Yuki one more time before leaving with Aichi.

The two of them say nothing as they walk through the hallway until Aichi makes a turn to a staircase. “Mr. Hatsukaze, where are you going? My classroom is that way.” Rute says while pointing down another hallway. “We’re not going to your classroom, so consider this a special assignment. And when we aren’t around your classmates just call me Aichi OK? Now follow me.” Aichi says without turning around. Rute nods his head and follows him down the stairs. They keep walking until Aichi stops in front of a blank wall and Rute points at it with a raised eyebrow. “Um, what is this?” He asks when Aichi pulls out a black phone from his back pocket and presses it up against the wall. There is a soft electronic beep and a section if the wall moves back and slides apart to reveal a hidden room. Rute looks at the door with wide eyes when Aichi yawns and walks in, making the other boy run in after him. The door closes behind them and a collection of computer monitors turn on, filling the room with a light blue glow and revealing someone sitting in front of the screens. “Jeez Kaze-kun, what took you so long.” Myra groans from her seat as she leans back when they enter the room. Aichi walks behind her and chops her on the head with his hand, making her slightly wince. “Didn’t I tell you to let me handle this? Why are you not at school?” Myra rubs her head where she was hit and looks up at Aichi with anger in her eyes. “Come on, this is my brother we’re talking about. I at least wanted to be there when we show him the ropes.” Aichi sighs and looks back at Rute. “Alright then, guess we're doing this together.” He hits a button of a keyboard and an image of the Tree of life appeared on one of the screens. “The mission of Ratatoskr is to remove the threat of spacequakes, which are caused by Spirits, from the world.” He hits more buttons and the circles on the tree of life light up one by one. “We have yet to identify the cause as to why the spirits exist,” Myra says to Rute. ”All we know is that the spacequakes started occurring roughly ten years ago.”

She hits another button and the various images of a large crater appear on the monitors. ”Let me be clear.” Myra says forcefully. “We as Spirits aren’t the problem. It's the Spacequakes.” She holds up her hand and the swirling ball of wind starts to form in her palm again. “As far as I know, spirits can’t intentionally cause spacequakes. They seem to be a side effect of our powers.” She waves her hand, dispelling the ball of wind and leans forward in her chair towards Rute. “That’s where you come in Big Bro. Your ability seals enough of our powers that we don’t cause spacequakes anymore. The Spirts can live normal lives if you seal their powers away.” Aichi hits a final button of the keyboard and the Tree of life appears again. “Your job, Mr. Osaku, is to find and seal the rest of the spirits. After that, the world won’t have to worry about the threat of spacequakes any longer.”

Rute nods his head, grabbing a nearby chair and flopping into the seat. “Wow… OK.” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before looking back at Myra and Aichi. “So, where exactly do I start?” Aichi yawns before sitting down and typing on his keyboard. “Well, the first order if business should be sealing Luna since the two of you have such a good bond already.” The monitors flash from various images around the school making Rute raise his eyebrow. “Hey, how do you-” “Oh we set up cameras around the school to monitor your and Luna’s condition” Myra interjects, “And before you ask, no we don’t use them for anything other than surveillance.” Aichi finished flipping through the cameras until they find a video feed that makes Rute jump out of his chair run out of the room with Myra calling after him. Aichi watches the screen with intent as it shows Luna talking with a gray-haired boy he recognized as Ateo from Rute’s class. The screen suddenly flashes white against his face and he is left speechless at what he starts to witness.


	13. Connection

Luna sat silently on class, answering the teacher’s questions and writing down notes in the book the Hatsukaze guy gave her. Her attention, however, wasn’t really with the class, instead, her mind was on Rute who had helped the indigo-haired girl leave a moment earlier. Every now and then, she glanced at the door, hoping to see him walk back into the classroom, but it never happened.  _ ‘I wonder what's taking him so long? He should be back by now.’ _ She thinks to herself when someone steps into her line of vision. “Hey there!” She looks up and sees a brown haired girl looking down at her with her arms crossed behind her. “You’re Luna right. I’m Mia Takashiro, one of Rute’s friends. Nice to meet you.” At the mention of Rute, Luna gets up from her chair, making Mia stop back. “Do you know where he is? He hasn’t come back yet.” Mia and the rest of the class look at the new girl with confused looks on their faces until a boy speaks up. “What do you want with Rute?” “I need to know if he is OK.” She immediately responds making the other students look at each other unsurely. “Um, we don’t know where he-” “I know where he is!” Mia tries to say when another boy with gray hair sitting on the other side of the classroom raises his hand and answers before her. Luna runs to the boy’s side and smacks her hands down on his desk when she reaches him. “Can you take me to him?! Like right now?” The boy waves his hand as he gets up and walks to the door. “Sure, sure. Come on follow me.” He steps out of the classroom and Luna follows after him, closing the door behind her.

Luna blindly walks after the boy and looks around at the other parts of the school building. She looked out of a window and saw a large area of destroyed land in the distance. The boy with he looked back and followed her line of sight to the crater and shook his head. “Man, that spacequake really shook this place up. Good thing we had the shelters am I right?” Luna says nothing as she stared at the crater when the boy leans forward in front of Luna and she jumps back in shock. “Y-Yeah, the shelters...” The boy sees her unsure expression but shrugs his shoulders and keeps walking.

Luna follows the boy until they reach a corner and he gestures with his hand down the other hall. “OK, Rute is over there.” Luna perks up and runs to where the boy is pointing only to find an empty stairwell. “Huh?” She asks and turns back to the boy, “Where is-” She doesn’t get to finish her sentence as the boy’s eyes start to glow green and he pushes her by her stomach down the stairs. She hits the back of her head against the wall of the stairwell and she sees the boy slowly walking down the stairs. He holds up his hand and something flashes brightly and she sees the object reflect the overhead light before her vision blurs.


End file.
